Night of the Wild Dogs is the fight in which Lin and Tariq faced a vicious pack in Prabaker’s slum at Cuffe Parade. The event is preserved through Lin’s later return to the place and his memory of the boy’s bravery: the physical traces of the fight remain, while its meaning has deepened in the years since.

Setting and Retrospective Return

Long after Prabaker has driven away to his bachelor party, Lin walks along the Causeway and continues past his apartment to Prabaker’s slum. He finds the spot where he and Tariq fought the dogs. A small pile of scrap timber and stones is still there, marking the place within a landscape of huts and dusty paths. Lin sits nearby, watching residents return to the settlement, and the ordinary movement of the neighborhood brings the earlier danger back into view.

The Fight and Tariq’s Courage

The surviving account identifies the attackers as a vicious pack and presents the fight through Lin’s recollection rather than a blow-by-blow retelling. Its clearest emphasis is on Tariq: as Lin stands at the site, he remembers the boy’s bravery. The episode thus preserves both the threat of the pack and the striking fact that a child stood his ground in the struggle alongside Lin.

Aftermath and Significance

The place draws Lin back into memories of the dogs and the fight, but also into a wider judgment of courage and smallness. He recalls that heroin sickness had once made him feel diminished and had led him to use a gun to rob people, many of them women. Against that admission, his memory of Tariq’s bravery carries particular force: the boy’s courage remains a vivid measure of strength, while Lin’s reflection refuses to mistake survival or stubbornness for nobility. Nearby, Prabaker’s party fills the slum with music and happy voices. Lin stays close enough to hear the celebration but too far away to share it, then walks back toward the city as the sound fades.