Parents naturally didn't want their children provoking the rabid dog.
It was dangerous.
They could get hurt.
"He went again?"
To the couple's surprise, the old lady was just as surprised as they were.
"Mom, you didn't know?"
"Mm."
The old lady nodded. "I didn't know."
"You didn't know..."
The old man wasn't surprised.
"The day Lele fell..."
"Actually, before that, I saw the children who had been playing with Lele come back from the kitchen doorway..."
"At the time, I thought Lele had come back too."
"I thought Lele wouldn't get caught in the rain this time."
"I thought those children were clever and had run home early when they saw the sky turning dark..."
"But when I came out of the kitchen..."
"Not one of you was there."
"I thought it was strange."
"You know what happened after that."
"I came out and saw you."
"The child was resting in the room upstairs. I thought about it and still felt something was strange."
The old man looked at the child on the bed, who was muttering in his sleep again.
"If Lele had come back with those children, she wouldn't have gotten wet at all."
"Did something happen?"
"Why did Lele come back later than they did?"
"I asked one of the children who had played with Lele that morning what had happened..."
The boy with a buzz cut's hesitant manner struck the old man as odd.
"What's wrong?"
"Is that question so hard to answer?"
"I just want to know why Lele didn't come back with you."
"Did something hold her up on the way?"
"He... I don't know..."
The boy with a buzz cut stammered, "I saw the sky getting dark... I heard thunder..."
"...It was going to rain soon..."