Summary

In “The Locked Room,” the narrator says that Takashi, a boy who dressed in black rags, cut off his eyelashes with scissors, had scabs on his face from “tearing his pimples open and squeezing the pus out with dirty chewed-up fingernails,” (263) was her first real boyfriend. He smelled like cigarette smoke and sweat, and his mouth tasted like excrement, but he was talented on the violin. The narrator played the piano.

One day Takashi and the narrator were locked in a practice room together. They were exploring the concert hall before rehearsal started when they closed the door behind themselves in a practice room. They could not open the door again. The narrator was not as outgoing as Takashi. She describes herself as being nervous.

The narrator suggested to Takashi they could tie together costumes stored in the...