The Night Tiger

Batu Gajah. Friday June 5

Twenty-six days have passed since Dr. MacFarlane’s death. Ren comforts himself with the knowledge that the only casualties have been dogs. Ah Long attributes the deaths to a jaguar.

Ren reflects on his brother, Yi. He wishes he could have died to save him. He also has a recurring dream about him, in which he is standing on a railroad platform, waving at his brother, who waves back at him with a gap-toothed smile from the window of a train car. Sometimes, Yi’s lips move as if he is speaking, but the dream has no sound. It’s a dream that gives Ren positive, happy feelings. Also, “Ren thinks it’s odd that Yi is always the one who is going on a journey, when it’s Ren who is growing older and leaving him behind,” the narrator states (40-41).  

Ah Long tells Ren that William has no family, although Ah Long alludes to the surgeon having many sexual affairs.

The next day, local men bring a woman with a deep gash in her calf to William’s home. However, the doctor is not home. Ren uses his many years of observing Dr. MacFarlane to ascertain that the tourniquet on the woman’s leg is too tight.