Saving Fish from Drowning - Heal Burma

SAVING FISH FROM DROWNING
“Right you did! So it would be Balanophora moffetti-starki.”
“Balanophora starki-moffetti,” she corrected.
“If I married you,” he said, “it could be Balanophora moffettorum
and cover us both.”
Her mouth opened and she was about to speak, but she could not
think fast enough for a witty rejoinder. Married. The word had sur­
prised her. In the silence, they heard birds calling. He was about to
tell her he was only joking, but that would make it seem as though he
could not possibly see her in that light.
Finally she said, “I’d keep my name. But don’t worry, I’m not keen
on having a plant that looks like that named after me.”
Now he felt reckless. He stood up. “We could still get married.”
The last two weeks had forced him to look at time and risk differ­
ently. His mind had once been focused on the future—future proj­
ects, future clients, future expansion. These days life existed in the
context of before and now.
Heidi laughed. “You’re ridiculous. Stop joking.”
“I may not be,” he said. She grew quiet and looked at him, full of
wonder. He tipped her face toward him and gave her a light kiss.
“Nice. Best kiss I’ve had in two weeks.”
“Me, too,” she said softly.
And with that permission, he slowly wrapped his arms around
her, and she grabbed on with surprising fierceness. At this point, let
me simply say that they let the wild side of the jungle overtake their
senses. I shall leave it to your imagination as to what exactly tran­
spired. After all, it would be inappropriate to reveal the details,
which were, I might say, quite extensive.
A N HOUR LATER , Moff and Heidi gathered up their clothes and a
few other plants that they knew for certain to be edible or useful:
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