Saving Fish from Drowning - Heal Burma

SAVING FISH FROM DROWNING
Belinda and Zilpha looked at him quizzically. It was a reporter
technique to elicit more information.
“Look,” he said, now fully under control again, “the group was
never in any of those cities where the witnesses reported them to be.
I had a feeling that was the case, but I went along with it so we’d con­
tinue to get coverage. I didn’t want my friends to be forgotten. The
media can make things happen, you see. I know, because I work in
television.”
Belinda and Zilpha nodded. “Listen, this might be a stupid ques­
tion,” Belinda said, “but how are you going to search for them?
Who’s going to take you? If it’s true what they said on camera about
the minesweeping and all, the military isn’t going to rescue them.
They might do something that isn’t what you have in mind, espe­
cially if your friends are linked up with Karen rebels.”
“Wait a minute,” Harry yelped. “Who said they were rebels?”
“The military thinks all Karen tribes hiding in the jungle are rebels.”
Harry frowned. “How do you know that?”
Belinda kept a straight face. “They’ve been doing special reports
on the military regime on Global News Network.”
Harry thought fast. “I’ll get the American Embassy to intervene.”
“They can’t do anything at the lake,” Zilpha said. “They aren’t al­
lowed to leave Rangoon without permission.”
Harry recalled someone else’s saying that—the expatriate at that
other resort on the lake. Damn. “I still have to speak to someone at
the Embassy. They can put the pressure on and make sure we find my
friends without anyone being harmed.”
“Maybe you should go to Rangoon as planned,” Belinda said.
“That way you can meet with the Embassy people personally.”
Brilliant, Harry said to himself. Why hadn’t he thought of that?
“Yes,” he said, “I had been considering that. And I’ll give them the
tape. They’ll see that it gets aired, and that way, the whole world will
be watching.”
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