Saving Fish from Drowning - Heal Burma

AMY TAN
person’s head, and too many panoramas that were probably breath­
taking when viewed in real life but dully one-dimensional on video.
The better shots, which were few, captured the universal subjects of
coffee-table books: local people in colorful costumes, snaky canals,
smoky alleys. And those ethnic women with crisscross halters and
heavy bundles of pine needles, those women he and Marlena had
seen outside Lijiang. What were they called? The tribe name was like
“Nazi” or “taxi.” Naxi!—that was it. Evidently that same tribe was
also in Myanmar. Ha, maybe they were the same ladies, professional
photographic natives who circulated everywhere, like those Peruvian
flute players who popped up no matter where you were in the world.
The images came in unconnected bursts, reflecting the mind of a
person with attention deficit disorder. Harry watched in snatches,
while taking ample opportunities to admire Belinda’s luscious
thighs, the plush delta separated from his naked eye by a flimsy bit of
Lycra. Back to the camcorder screen: A fleeting field, a swoosh of
sky, primitive pagodas and bewildered grandmothers, then buffalo
cows, more buffalo cows, a child riding a buffalo cow, now signs and
more signs, signs with innovative applications of the English lan­
guage. Belinda read aloud: “Lodging and Fooding,” “Restaurant and
Bare.” And then she came to a group of people, barely more distin­
guishable than ants on the screen. They stood behind a sign: “Sincerely
Welcoming You to Farmous Grottoe of Female Genitalia.”
At the same instant that she saw the Westerners were Harry and
the missing tourists, Harry’s heart flip-flopped. Grotto of Female
Genitalia? All the scenes just viewed now took on the eerie quality of
déjà vu. Zilpha saw that Belinda had a look of intense focus.
“May I?” Harry said, and before Belinda could answer, he seized
the camcorder from her hands and deftly pushed the rewind button,
then whipped out his reading glasses. Play. There it was, the familiar
sign, and there they were: Dwight, Heidi, Moff . . . and sweet, darling
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