Saving Fish from Drowning - Heal Burma

AMY TAN
They were actually twins, and according to the tribe’s beliefs, they
were divinities. They boldly pushed past the others, grabbed Rupert
by his hands, and led him toward their grandmother, who was tend­
ing a pot on the rock hearth. The old woman scolded the children as
she saw them approach. “Don’t drag him around like that. Hold his
hands with respect.” When Rupert was before her, she shyly averted
her eyes and offered Rupert a stump to sit on, which he refused. He
shook loose from his admirers and walked about the camp.
Marlena observed that except for the twins and older people, few
wore the distinctive costumes seen at most dance and cultural spec­
tacles. Could this be an authentic tribe and not one designer-garbed
to look ethnic? The head wraps on the men and women were clearly
functional and not decorative. They looked like dirty Turkish towels
wound without regard to fashion. And the women and girls in
sarongs had chosen loud plaids and cheap flowery designs. The men
were clothed in raggedy pajama bottoms and dirty tank tops that
hung to their knees. One wore a T-shirt that said “MIT Media Lab”
on the front, and on the back, “Demo or Die.” Who left that behind?
Only a few had rubber flip-flops, leading Marlena to recall child­
hood warnings to never let your bare feet touch dirt lest tiny worms
pierce them, crawl up the insides of your legs, into your stomach,
ever upward until they lodged in your brain.
Moff stepped closer to the tree houses. Finally realizing what they
were, he became excited and called Heidi over. He pointed out the
vast roots. “They’re mature strangler figs. I’ve seen them in South
America, but these are absolutely huge.”
“Strangler,” Heidi said, and shuddered.
“See up there?” And Moff explained how the seeds had taken hold
high in the scummy crannies of host trees. Aerial roots spread down­
ward and girdled the host tree, and as the host grew, the vascular
roots thickened in a deadly embrace. “Kind of like a marriage I was
once in,” Moff said. The host tree was choked to death, he went on to
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