Saving Fish from Drowning - Heal Burma

AMY TAN
friends and a few indoor squirrels. He had spent the previous summer
bicycling on the fire roads of Mount Tamalpais, accompanied by two
Scottish deerhounds that belonged to his ex-girlfriend’s parents, the
absentee owners of a countrified wood-shingled mansion in Ross,
which was where he house-sat and resided with the hounds, in the
quaint pool house with its hammock, billiards table, and oversized
rock fireplace. The spring before that, he crewed on a private luxury
yacht that took ecotourists around the fjords of Alaska. Several of
those well-heeled clients offered him future house-sitting employment,
“gigs,” he called them. All in all, he was an easygoing charmer whose
predictable rejoinder, “Like, whatever,” to any remark or question was
synonymous with his lack of direction and encumbrances in life.
As vacuous as my descriptions may make him sound, I rather liked
Wyatt. He had a good heart toward all, whether they were former
teachers, girlfriends, or employers. He was not cynical about those of
us who were wealthy, nor did he envy or take excessive advantage of
us. He remained pleasant and respectful to everyone, even the meter
maid who ticketed the car he had borrowed. He always paid the
ticket, by the way. I would say he had one of the finest attributes a hu­
man being can have, in my opinion, and that is kindness without mo­
tives. Of course, his lack of motivation was another matter.
During the bus ride into Lijiang, Wyatt dozed, and Wendy gave
everyone who was awake the benefit of her stream-of-consciousness
observations. “Omigod, look at those people on the side of the road.
They’re smashing rocks, turning them into gravel to pave the road....
Those faces! They look so beaten down. Does the government think
people are machines? . . .” Though Wendy had only arrived in China,
she was already sharpening her sensibilities about despotic rule.
LIKE ANY EXUBERANT PUP, Wendy needed to learn “shush.” That’s
what Harry Bailley thought. He was sitting across the aisle from her
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