Saving Fish from Drowning - Heal Burma

AMY TAN
needled pine trees. On the right was a hillside of tea bushes, a plot
of carrots with white flowery heads. On the left were golden fields
of rapeseed, and next to those, groves of rubber trees with leaves
turned orange, red, and brown. Running alongside the road were the
most vibrant bursts of life: fiery balls of lantana and scarlet hibiscus
with their trumpet flowers open to hail a perfect afternoon. A per­
fect afternoon wasted on Harry and Marlena.
The bus turned up a bumpy dirt road, and all the nappers were
jounced awake. Lulu conferred with the driver, and they came to an
immediate agreement. It was time to disembark and walk the rest of
the way to the village. The driver turned off the engine. “Bring your
hat, sunglass, and water,” Lulu ordered. “Also insect cream if you
have. Many mosquitoes.”
“Is there a restroom nearby?” Roxanne called out. Her camcorder
was looped around her neck.
“Yes, yes, this way.” Lulu gestured to the side of the road, to the
tall vegetation. As people gathered their necessary belongings, tiny
whimpers came from the back of the bus. Eyes turned toward Esmé,
who appeared to be doubled over in pain.
“Wawa!” Marlena cried out. “Are you sick? What’s the matter?”
Light-headed with fear, Marlena ran toward the back of the bus, and
the closer she drew, the more miserable Esmé appeared to be. Mar­
lena leaned down to try to help her daughter sit up. A moment later,
Marlena gasped: “Oh my God!”
The puppy whimpered again.
Harry ran toward them. Esmé began to howl, “I’m not leaving it!
If you do, I’m staying here, too.” Since the night before, Esmé knew
the inevitable would happen. They would find out what she had
done, and having kept her secret for so long, she had grown more
anxious, and now she could not help but bawl. Surges of adolescent
hormones contributed to a sense of doom.
Harry lifted a scarf that Esmé had fashioned by cutting up a
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