Saving Fish from Drowning - Heal Burma

SAVING FISH FROM DROWNING
dockyards where he did inventory for import-export companies, the
rest in backyards in Miami and Los Angeles, where he pruned hedges
and cleaned pools. His interest in bamboo began in the 1970s, when
he grew walls of it to camouflage his marijuana plants. Keen to make
his cannabis as powerful per puff as possible, he devoured books
on horticulture, particularly those related to genetic enhancement.
Later, bamboo cultivation itself superseded his nefarious grass-
growing interests—and why wouldn’t it, when bamboo regenerated
so quickly, just like marijuana, but without the legal hassles? And
thus he made the 1980s transition to capitalist farmer, shipping con­
tainers of “live product,” as he called it, to the lobbies of new office
buildings, remodeled airports, and luxury hotels around the world.
(Harry didn’t know at the time that Moff and Marlena had quite a
few clients in common. Then again, neither did Moff.)
All right, so Moff had an unconventional business, Harry granted
him that. And by calling himself a “plantation owner,” Moff made
himself highly attractive to women with romantic illusions. They
probably thought the plantation was idyllic, like the set for a dino­
saur movie, and indeed, it had been used for that purpose on several
occasions. But Moff himself had not a whit of romance in his brain.
His plantation was intentionally situated near the Laguna Seca
Raceway in Salinas, and that was where he took his dates—a factor
in a man’s favor if a woman’s idea of a good time was smelling
crankcase oil and getting her eardrums blown out by the rpms of Le
Mans prototypes. Inexplicably, there was no shortage of women in
that category.
Perhaps, Harry thought, he should just be direct with Moff, in­
form him straightaway that he was interested in Marlena, strongly
so. “Old chum, I hope you don’t mind, but you know . . .” and Harry
would indicate with a nod that the lady in favor was Marlena. He
imagined Moff would reply with a “Ho-ho,” then clap his hand
firmly on Harry’s back, thus sealing their understanding. Marlena,
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