Saving Fish from Drowning - Heal Burma

AMY TAN
abyss. Catching himself, he then observed both visually and viscer­
ally the level of hygiene practiced in this restaurant. Good God, that
hole in the floor that passed as a toilet was only a suggested target. It
was also evident that quite a number of deathly ill people with
bloody bowel disorders had found refuge there. Furthermore, toilet
paper was not to be found, nor water with which to wash one’s
hands. Abominable! Thank God he had not partaken of the fare.
Heidi also did not indulge in the roadside picnic. She had eaten the
protein-rich soy bar she carried in her daypack, where she also stored
a bottle of water, along with the heating coil she had used that morn­
ing to disinfect the water. In the same pouch she had two mini-
bottles of antibacterial disinfectant, a half-dozen alcohol wipes, a
doctor-prescribed needle and syringe in case she was in a head-on
collision and needed an operation, her own nonporous eating uten­
sils, a pack of moistened towelettes, chewable antacid tablets for
coating the stomach before and after eating (this, she had read, could
ward off as much as ninety-eight percent of the common nasties that
cause travelers’ diarrhea), a plastic funnel with a six-inch retractable
tube for urinating while standing, nonlatex gloves for handling the
funnel, an epinephrine injection pen in case she went into anaphy­
lactic shock from an exotic insect bite, extra nine-volt batteries for
the portable air sanitizer she wore around her neck, lithium batteries
for the anti-nausea device worn on her wrist, as well as Malarone
tablets for preventing malaria, anti-inflammatories, and a prescrip­
tion bottle of antibiotic for bacterial gastrointestinal diseases. More
preventatives and remedies, including a bag of intravenous fluid,
were in her suitcase back at the hotel.
Heidi and Harry were thus spared from dysentery this time, she by
anxiety, and he by snobbery. From years of experience, the bus driver,
Xiao Fei, who was called “Mr. Fred” for American convenience, had
an intestinal tract and immune system conditioned to resist infec­
tion. Some in our group, by virtue of their inherited robustness in
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