The elderly woman looked at it and felt not fear, but pity. “Poor thing, it must be hungry…” she whispered, as if a lost dog were lying in front of her.

Instead of calling rescuers or the police, she went back inside, took a bucket with leftover food from Halloween, added pieces of meat from the refrigerator, and cautiously went back outside. The crocodile lifted its head. With a trembling hand, she threw the food far away from herself.

The crocodile ate greedily, snapping its jaws loudly, and then, once full, slowly turned around and crawled off into the darkness without even looking at her. The woman stood on the porch for a long time, convincing herself that it was all over.