"Why..."
"When he was at the health clinic and the hospital..."
The old woman looked puzzled. "He never had nightmares there."
"Why did he start having them as soon as he came home?"
"We've been wondering about that, too."
The fact that the two elders had noticed the same thing as them made Child's Mom a little excited.
"I don't know if it's a coincidence, or..."
Child's Mom stopped herself.
She'd only said it offhand.
Growing up with little exposure to such things, they knew all that talk of the supernatural was superstition, nothing but nonsense...
"That sheep's coming to eat me..."
The others wanted to argue.
Could there be something wrong with the two elders' home?
Were they playing a trick on their grandson?
"Because he had nightmares every night for those few days, he got a little scared of sleeping in his own room."
They couldn't wait to see how the child was doing.
"It really is a coincidence..."
Child's Dad was astonished.
Something evil?
By then, the child would have to start getting up early every day.
Child's Mom joked.
"In your room."
Besides, that explanation...
How could it possibly be true?
What else could it be?
The old woman's words wiped the smile from Child's Mom's face.
The old woman spoke up suddenly.
She'd thought something had happened to the child, and that was why the two elders had called them back so urgently...
The child had lived with the two elders for so many years...
How could that be possible?
But Lele's situation...
The old man frowned and cut off the old woman's rather long-winded complaint.
The older generation in rural villages, where information didn't travel as freely, were even more likely to believe in such things.
Why would he