Saving Fish from Drowning - Heal Burma

AMY TAN
Marlena’s passion got a good dousing.) Esmé knew right away she
shouldn’t have laughed so hard. She should have pretended she didn’t
even see it. But once the giggles came, she couldn’t stop them. She
was still giggling as he made his way up the stairs.
When he next came over, they were too embarrassed to say any­
thing about the breasts, or the hand in her pants, or her laughing at
him. They sat on her bed together, and hardly said anything. They
watched anime movies on her computer. Her mother found reasons
to call down, it seemed, every fifteen minutes. Esmé thought about
“it.” If he wanted to do it again, she would let him. Not that she
would take off her clothes and do the other “it.” That would be too
weird. She was curious, though, what she would feel when a boy
touched her. Would she go insane with something she never felt be­
fore? Would she become a different person?
The other thing Esmé liked about her room was the carpeted stair­
case to her bed that Harry made so that Pup-pup could go up and
down as she pleased. Esmé appreciated that Harry thought of these
things. He knew all about dogs. She often went to the TV studio
when they filmed on weekends. She would be “on set”—she knew
not to call it a stage anymore. And she sometimes went “on loca­
tion,” whenever Harry did the show at people’s homes. She noticed
that he called out a lot, “People! Shush!” And everyone immediately
shut up. He was very important on the show, the most respected per­
son there, and everyone tried to get his attention and please him. But
all she had to say was “I’m hungry” or “I’m cold,” and he bossed
people around and told them to get her a sandwich or a blanket. She
thought her mom should come to the set more often and see how
people treated Harry there. If she did, she wouldn’t argue with him
so much. Her mother was never satisfied with anything he did.
The best thing Harry did, Esmé thought, was to feature her and
Pup-pup to show that kids can be excellent dog trainers. “Esmé
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