Saving Fish from Drowning - Heal Burma

SAVING FISH FROM DROWNING
you’d blow up the TV’s electronic innards. TVs are fussy that way.
Recharging the battery is a much better idea, batteries being more
tolerant of variation. Besides, you can power up all kinds of things
with a car battery as a storage source—TV, lights, radios.”
“How do you know these things?” she said, and smiled.
He shrugged but was secretly flattered. “I’m a farm boy, a simple
rube.” I noticed that his eyes intentionally locked on hers, lingering
until Heidi gave out an embarrassed giggle. It was the man on the bi­
cycle who broke the spell. He slid off the seat and invited Moff to take
his place. “Missed going to the gym last night,” Moff told Heidi as he
got on. “Might as well get a workout this morning.” And he began
pumping heartily, as men do when they are surging with machismo.
In the middle of the clearing and toward the front of the camp, a
fire crackled in the rock pit, and a pot of broth simmered atop a
metal plate fashioned out of a wrecked car door. Close by, on a plat­
ter, were a heap of cooked rice and a smaller pile of forest vegeta­
tion. This was to be breakfast. Esmé and Rupert stood watching
hungrily with unwashed faces. The cooks, an older woman and two
pretty, young ones, smiled at them and said in their own dialect:
“Yes, yes, we know you’re hungry. Almost ready now.”
“Know what?” Esmé said to Rupert with cool reserve. “My mom
and I saw a monkey last night. It was huge.” She held her arms above
her head and stood on tiptoes to make herself as tall as possible.
“No way,” said Rupert.
“Way -ay,” Esmé retorted, and shrank back to earth. She had not
actually seen the monkey herself, but when her mother had described
it to her a few minutes before, she had such a sense of horror and fas­
cination knowing it had been close to her that she felt she had expe­
rienced it firsthand.
“Well, I saw a bat last night,” Rupert said. He had not actually
seen a bat, but he heard a fluttery sound that made him think one
was hovering about.
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