Rain dripped drop by drop from the teacher's hair and clothes onto the ground.
"Such heavy rain..."
"I couldn't stop to ask questions..."
"The most important thing..."
"Was to get the child somewhere sheltered from the rain..."
"The child didn't know what was happening and seemed very dazed."
"I picked her up right away."
"I brought her to the reception room."
"I'd just finished drying her hair and face when you arrived."
The teacher explained everything in considerable detail.
She didn't want the child's parents to misunderstand and complain to the director.
She really...
Had done everything she could.
"What happened to Anna?"
The man looked at the dazed little girl.
Why did she look a little like...
"Teacher, did you notice anything?"
"Did she have a disagreement with any of the other children at kindergarten today?"
"No."
The teacher shook her head.
She pressed her lips together.
In the end, she decided to tell him what she'd just seen.
"She..."
The words were on the tip of her tongue, but the teacher hesitated again.
Perhaps the child had only been frightened by the thunder and lightning...
"Teacher, do you know something?"
The man asked at once. "Tell me."
The teacher pressed her lips together again.
"I don't know if I saw it correctly..."
"When I ran over to the child sitting on the ground..."
"The way she looked..."
The teacher paused.
"What is it?"
The man couldn't help asking.
"I was—well, I was a little frightened."
The teacher corrected herself.
"Anna..."
"She seemed to have been frightened by something..."
"Frightened by what?"
The man murmured. "What?"
"The thunder and lightning?"
Stormy weather like this could certainly be scary for a child.
But...
It was the first time he'd seen her so frightened...