Saving Fish from Drowning - Heal Burma

AMY TAN
in a reef pocket at low tide, or stuck on a hook, they would eventu­
ally suffer from oxygen deprivation and suffocate. They drown.” He
saw that Marlena was staring at him, mesmerized, a look that said to
him: You are so incredibly powerful and sexy. If there were a bed
right here, I’d jump your bones. Actually, Marlena was wondering
why he took so much pleasure in describing how fish die.
Heidi envisioned the panting fish they had just left. “If they can
take oxygen from water, why can’t their gills process it from air?”
Marlena gave Harry an expectant look. Harry gladly explained:
“Their gills are like two silky-thin arches. They’re suspended wide
open in water, like double sails on a boat. Out of water, the arches
collapse like a plastic baggie and press against each other, sealing
them off so no air gets in. The fish suffocate.”
Vera gave out a snort. “So there is absolutely no way someone can
sincerely say they are saving fish from drowning.”
And Harry replied: “No. They are drowning on land.”
“Well, what about chickens?” Vera mused, gesturing toward a cage
of chicks. “What benevolent action will do them in? Will they be re­
ceiving yoga lessons when their necks are accidentally broken?”
“It’s no worse than what we do back home,” Esmé said with
sangfroid matter-of-factness. “We’re just better at hiding it. I saw a
program on TV. The pigs are all smashed together, then go through a
chute, and they’re all screaming, because they know what’s going to
happen. They do it to horses, too. That’s what some dog foods are
made of. Sometimes they’re not even dead when they get chopped up.”
Marlena stared at her daughter. Esmé seemed to have shed her in­
nocence before her very eyes. How could her baby know these
things? Marlena took her daughter’s new strides in knowledge with
maternal angst and sadness. She had loved those days when Esmé
looked to her for protection and comfort, when it was expected that
she, the mother, would shield her daughter from the ugliness of the
world. Now she remembered a time, not too long before, when they
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