Summary

The crocodile lived in a teahouse basement with the character Jarman, who filmed the crocodile. However, “The crocodile had a peculiar habit: It never looked at me unless it was wearing a human suit” (152), opting instead to stare at the camera lens. The narrator added, “The crocodile was a natural-born performer” (152).

Now tackling her senior year, the narrator “(broke) free of the prison (she’d) been living in” (155) by coming out to Tun Tun and Zhi Rou. She compared this moment to “a lightbulb” turning on in her head (156). In an encounter with Zhi Rou, they talked about Zhi Rou’s romantic relationship with Tun Tun and her subsequent string of relationships with men. She remembered the narrator meditating on how “only healthy people are capable of being in love,” for “using love to treat an illness just makes the illness worse” (160). The narrator...