Saving Fish from Drowning - Heal Burma

AMY TAN
but his thoughts still rushing out. He was going to die a stranger on
these shores. And as the fiery sparks filled his vision, he had a star­
tling thought—that long after he was dead, this river would still flow
and so would he. He pictured a young man, who looked very much
like him, about his age, his same coloring. He marveled that his
blood would run through this young man, that perhaps it would
draw the young man to this wild and beautiful place. And later the
young man would have these same thoughts, that one day there would
be another and another, with their same coloring and thoughts, who
understood them both. And when that happened, neither of them
would feel he was alone. They would live on together in the flow of
this endless river. He died in peace believing it. And this peace would
have been Dwight’s, but for the fact that he had no children.
When he returned to San Francisco, he and Roxanne agreed to a
divorce. There was no fight leading up to it. They agreed without
tears or argument that the marriage was over. Two weeks after he
moved out and a week after they filed the papers, he learned that
Roxanne was three months pregnant. He knew she had wanted a girl.
But the sonogram revealed it was a boy. She hadn’t said anything be­
fore, she explained, because she felt it shouldn’t enter into their deci­
sion whether to divorce. He wanted to cry over this sad irony. But he
nodded.
Fate kept changing course. Roxanne nearly lost the baby and had
to take drastic measures. Her doctor sewed up her cervix, ordered
complete bed rest, and advised she avoid stress. Without being asked,
Dwight returned home. He cooked and brought her meals, cleaned
up after she finished, and washed the dishes. He collected the mail,
sorted out the junk, paid the bills, answered the phone and took mes­
sages when she was sleeping. He helped her bathe and pushed her in
a wheelchair the short distance to the bathroom. These were the me­
nial things they had never done for each other.
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