Summary

The narrator, named Anton, arrives to take care of his friend Ched’s rare Siamese fighting fish named Boudicca. The narrator believes Ched’s house, called “The House of Locks” (55), is spooky. Both Ched and the narrator are from Bezin, but Ched has become a famous and handsome singer.

The narrator and Ched have known each other since, years ago, Ched stuck up for him in a fight. One day, Ched leaves to return for mandatory military service: “I’ll be directing all my day’s efforts toward one priority: Defend the perimeter” (60). During the two years that Ched is gone, the narrator works at his Aunt Thomasina’s weight loss company. Some of the clients, starving at night, sleepwalk. This disturbs the narrator’s shift partner, Tyche. Tyche once found a ring at the bottom of her pint...