Saving Fish from Drowning - Heal Burma

AMY TAN
holding a plate piled high with turkey and mashed potatoes. It was
like seeing himself at that age, down to his facial expressions and
loping walk. So those get inherited, too, he thought. And just as he
expected, the boy said, “Wyatt,” when asked his name.
After that day, he knew he had to do what was necessary to make
amends and be a dad. How he dealt with Sherleen was another mat­
ter. He talked to his mom and her new husband, Gus Larsen. A fam­
ily’s got to take care of its own, Dot said, and the Fletchers knew
how to do right by other people. She told him they would send Sher­
leen to a county rehab program—they’d pay, of course—and while
she was drying out, they’d go to court and file papers saying she was
an unfit mother, so they could get custody of the boy. That was best
for the boy’s sake, the mother’s, too.
But Wyatt was reluctant to do anything backhanded. The woman
was a mess, that’s for sure, but she still laughed an honest laugh, and
at one time in his life he had thought she was beautiful, the sweetest
angel on earth. So many afternoons, he had told her, “I love you. I
promise, Sherleen, I’ll always love you.” That counted for something,
didn’t it?
He could offer to set her up in an apartment near his mom’s
house. That way he could drop by and take his son fishing, to a ball
game, or even on one of his expeditions when the boy was older. To
Sherleen, Wyatt would say he’d like to be her friend. He knew she
would understand it would be only that. He knew her well. She would
say what she had always said, “Anything you want.”
ROXANNE AND DWIGHT were still together, but not in the way
you might think. Even before she reached home, she started to justify
why she should end the marriage. All those weeks in No Name Place
should have strengthened them as a couple, but instead they magni­
fied her loneliness at being with him. His insecurity kept him apart
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