Saving Fish from Drowning - Heal Burma

AMY TAN
The fucking military took away their land, burned their villages, en­
slaved them. God, this is so sickening....It really makes you appre­
ciate . . .” Her voice drops to a fierce whisper, and it is obvious she is
crying. “Oh God, it makes you appreciate not ever knowing such
things....We have to help them....We can’t just give them sympa­
thy or a token bit of help. We want to help in a bigger way, a sub­
stantial way that can make a difference.” Cut.
The chasm again. Voices are grumbling, arguing, nay-saying, in­
sisting. “This is the shits,” Roxanne says. The eye of the camera veers
toward a ladder of ropes running straight down the other side of the
crevasse. The bridge has collapsed! They’re looking down? Has
someone fallen in? Who? How many? Marlena? Esmé, Moff? No?
No! Thank God. They’re fine. There they are. All there? Yes, they
must be, since no one is acting crazed with grief, just pissed. So that’s
it. They can’t get out. The bridge is down. They meant to come back
all along. And they’re alive. They’re simply stuck. They must be
okay. They had food. Thank God! Cut.
It’s night. Why has so much time gone by without any video? The
date stamp says December 30th, so it is the 31st, New Year’s Eve.
Rupert is lying on the ground, his eyes looking upward, perhaps at
stars. Whoever is holding the camera is shaking it. It makes Rupert
look jittery. Rupert is mumbling, but it’s impossible to hear what he
is saying. Every now and then, he lets out a shout. A night moth flut­
ters by, dancing with the light of the smoke.
Vera is speaking. “You shouldn’t do that.” She isn’t scolding. She
sounds very gentle. She must be telling Rupert to not be so noisy, be­
cause others are sleeping.
Rupert doesn’t answer. The camera continues shaking. No, wait,
it’s Rupert who’s shaking. He’s shivering, shivering violently. He
must be sick, terribly sick. It is now Moff who is speaking, although
he is not seen. “His mother,” he says in uneven breaths, and the
camera heaves with him. “She’ll want to feel she was next to him...
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