Saving Fish from Drowning - Heal Burma

SAVING FISH FROM DROWNING
complain about us. He was just spouting off—not that he didn’t have
every right to be infuriated.” She cocked one eye and looked toward
Harry, Dwight, Moff, and Rupert.
She then switched to sentimentality. “As you all recall, this tour
was lovingly designed by my dear friend Bibi Chen, carefully put to­
gether as an educational and inspirational journey. If we leave now
like scared little mice, we will miss out on some of the greatest ad­
ventures of our lives. We wouldn’t get to feel the spray of the mag­
nificent waterfalls at the bottom of Tiger Leaping Gorge....”
Esmé’s mouth rounded. They were supposed to go there?
“We would be forgoing a ride on a horse with Tibetan nationals in
Yak Meadow....”
That caught Roxanne’s and Heidi’s attention; they had each
owned a pony when they were little girls.
Vera went on: “When in this lifetime will you have another chance
to see an alpine meadow at seventeen thousand feet? Extremely
rare.” She nodded solemnly in agreement with herself. “As are those
murals of Guan Yin in the sixteenth-century temple...”
Poor Vera, she almost had them convinced, until she mentioned
the murals. Goddesses may have been Vera’s niche in art history, but
the mention of Guan Yin made others twitch with anxiety. Another
temple? No, no more temples, please. Vera poked at the schedule,
which she held up as if it were the Declaration of Independence.
“This is what I signed up for. This is what I paid for. This is what I
intend to do. I vote nay and I urge the rest of you to reconsider.” She
sat down.
Esmé also voted nay, with a slightly lifted hand.
Vera gestured to Esmé to get everybody’s attention. “Another nay.”
When asked to explain her vote, Esmé shrugged. She couldn’t say.
The truth was, she had fallen tragically in love. The Shih Tzu puppy
had grown weak. When it tried to walk, it stumbled and fell. It would
not eat the offerings of Chinese food given by the beauties. Esmé had
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