"Later, Grandma's parents came looking for her."
"When Grandma turned around again, the fox was nowhere to be seen."
"Grandma's parents were terribly worried when they saw how disheveled she was."
"Grandma forgot all about the fox for a moment and burst into tears."
"Afterward, when Grandma thought it over carefully, she realized that the fox had saved her."
"Grandma vaguely remembered something hitting her in the waist."
"It had pushed her a few steps to the side."
"Those few steps had been just enough to keep her from being struck by lightning."
"Grandma told her parents about it."
"She went back to that mountain many times afterward."
"But she never saw that fox again."
"Grandma got sick."
The young man and woman's voices grew heavy.
"She's been in the hospital ever since."
"Grandma said she was bored all alone in her hospital room, so she started thinking about a lot of things from the past."
"Grandma told us about the fox again."
"After we started fourth grade, Grandma never told us that story again."
"Because... even the most interesting stories get annoying when you hear them too many times."
"We didn't want to hear Grandma tell that story anymore..."
"As soon as Grandma started telling it, we'd run away."
"We even told her she was annoying and kept repeating the same story."
"After that, Grandma never told us about the fox again."
Thinking of how Grandma had told them about the fox in the hospital, then looked at them with a regretful expression when she finished, asking whether they didn't like hearing about it and wondering why she'd brought up such an old story again...
Grandma had asked them to understand... saying that when people got old, they liked talking about the same old things...
Even though