Saving Fish from Drowning - Heal Burma

AMY TAN
shaped his hand into the universal sign for a handset, but this re­
ceived only shrugs and downcast looks of regret. His headache from
last night’s binge began to throb more intensely. How in hell did he
get talked into coming to a country that didn’t allow cell phones?
Back at the bungalow, so as not to be consumed with frustration
and self-pity, Harry turned his attention to profit-making work. He
had brought with him the rough draft of his book-in-progress, Come.
Sit. Stay. It was meant to be a collection of light commentary and
anecdotes on the interactions between humans and dogs, a mix of
topics relating to human and canine personalities—not the sort of
book he would have chosen to write, mind you. But an editor had
come to him with the idea after he had won his third Emmy. There
was a good market for it, she said, along with a bit of dosh—enough,
he calculated, to cover the down payment on a ski chalet at Squaw
Valley, and it was all his, provided he turned the manuscript in within
the year. Flush with Emmy pride at the time, Harry had responded,
“Easily done.” Now he judged he was insane to have agreed to such
an impossible schedule. He read the notes from his editor, sugges­
tions that she said might serve as a springboard: “What happens
when you place a calm Lab with a restless person? Or an anxious
border collie with a relaxed person? How about an assertive terrier
with an indecisive person? Who affects whom? Could some combi­
nations be therapeutic?”
What idiocy. The misguided dear was barking up the proverbial
wrong tree. He paused to think how to set things in a proper frame
of reference. ...Perhaps something to do with personality and adapt­
ability in different species . . . He began jotting notes: Explain the sci­
ence behind that, ergo, the paleoanthropology of hominid Erectus
before and now. Yes! Add the biology of species diversification—
some basic Darwinian analogies to make the whole thing have an
impressive foundation. Brilliant. Roxanne wasn’t the only one who
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