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Sa cross-legged in front of a sort of chapel iate I was pretty sure it here I was supposed to be, but to my untrained eye one chapel looked rather like another

Still, how hard should it be to find me? My fellow tourists were a busy lot, but the bulk of their activity consisted of either taking pictures or posing for them When they weren’t behind or in front of a ca to decide if they had enough film to record it for the folks back ho iinable but take or pose for pictures Fa their parents’ hands Red-robed e from small boys to old men, circled the central stupa in a solemn procession And here a man howled and spat, and there a fellow puffed on a cheroot Spitting and s as you kept your shoes off

I looked at ht, hoenty-five years could pass in the wink of an eye, and twoI should wait for my co-conspirator to make contact I should wait a little while, I had been told, and then return at the sa was a little while in this holy place? Five kok was a contact the Chief had arranged for h in one respect I’d have been better off with the Thai equivalent of Zagat’s or Egon Ronay’s Good Food Guide The person ould on was so what re it with some contacts I’d made on the Internet There were exiled Burmese dissidents all over the place, and especially in northern Thailand, and it was through theht about skipping it, even as I’d considered passing up Sukhumvit even before I learned as on the menu But I felt so ill-equipped for the task at hand, so utterly unprepared, that I didn’t dare I needed all the help I could get

I guess my eyes closed as I sat there, because I didn’t notice the boy’s approach He coughed gently, noof the throat, and I looked up and saw hiht as a little soldier and I was sitting cross-legged, but our eyes were on a level He was a tiny fellow, his face a perfect oval, his eyes large and dark With his shaved head he could have been a– I’d seen some no older and taller – but instead of a red robe he wore a longyi, the close-fitting wraparound skirt all Burmese men wore instead of trousers His shirt was an ordinary A on a carrot

He was holding a twig cage, and it was holding a dove just like the one I’d seen released The saainst it

"No, thank you," I said in English "No birds today"

He didn’t seee

"Bah boo," I said, whichtonal quality, in which case it very likely e hiht to ot et rid of hi at us, too Maybe the easiest thing was to buy it "How much?" I asked, and searched h tied to cram in a feords and phrases, and-

"Beh lout lay?" I said I’d either asked the price or directions to the post office, I wasn’t really sure which

"Shit," he said

I stared at him His expression was curiously matter-of-fact I said, "Shit?"

He nodded, pleased that ere co of words I didn’t get at all

"Na uy froapore made a mistake, but which actually means "I don’t understand"

"Shit," he said

"You said it," I agreed

He put the cage on the marble floor between us and held up both hands, the thuain, counting on his fingers: "Tit, nit, thone, lay, ngar, chak, kunnit, shit Shit!"

Oh, right Shit was eight in Burh, while eight kyat worked out to around a dime, and seemed ridiculously low And I didn’t have any kyat, I hadn’t changed any innings of exasperation, and I wasn’t sure whether the latest utterance was in Bur out my wallet The smallest I had was a ten-dollar bill, and I handed it to hiestured to indicate that he should keep it, which clearly delighted hiyi and handed e I handed it back and indicated that he should keep it, and perhaps sell it to somebody else

That didn’t please hiuess what the wordI take the thing

"Oh," I said, taking it, and thanked him politely: "Amyah ee jay zu tin ba day"

He nodded and bowed and ran off

Shit, I thought I set the caged bird down beside me and looked at iven up on ave ive him a few more minutes And so I waited until five o’clock, not really expecting anything, and nobody came within five yards of me, or took any real notice of s, then straightened up again I could coht, or I could say the hell with it The latter course seemed the most likely, but I had a whole day to , then ree I could leave it there and let someone else knock a few spokes out of the wheel of rebirth, but maybe it was time I earned a little merit myself It see the least bit meritorious Since I’d just paid one hundred and twenty tihted white dove, the least I could do was let hiot hold of the bird He did what birds do, although they generally do it on statues, or women who’ve just had their hair done "Shit," I said, and I wasn’t talking about the price, either

I lifted hi with him but for the souvenir he’d left behind I didn’t have anything to wipeto part with another ten dollars I wiped thee? Just set it down, I thought, and let it be so just that when I saw the envelope