BAD DOG.
The parents were wide-eyed when the enormous, burly man erupted out from under the oak tree, shouting angrily. But his anger was clearly directed at the two equally-enormous dogs, crouched miserably beside a sobbing child.
They'd played too rough, been careless, and sent a child tumbling. And not one of the orphans, either, but an unrelated child. And the tall man clearly was furious about this, shouting at the dogs for being so careless just because it wasn't one of "their" kids. As far as he was concerned, they'd never ever have been so clumsy with their own! And then he continued on, threatening to send them both home right now, then leave them in the basement for the night.
Dogs shouldn't know what was being said. The watchers could understand the dogs being submissive and frightened by the tirade, but there was an uncanny intelligence behind those eyes and the tails that sagged lower and lower. The white one began to whine at the threat to be sent home, although the black one looked barely abashed.
Until the threat to make him stay in the basement all night. Those odd red eyes widened in shock, and a choked whine was heard.
The tirade finally wound down, and the two dogs nuzzled worriedly and clearly apologetically at the downed child. Within moments, a worried parent was rushing over from the soccer fields and his other children to check on the child injured on the playground. The huge, burly man apologized to the father, and then produced bandages and wipes from his pocket.
It was surprising to see the giant of a man so tender with a child, but his own five were gathered around him now, and their "Father Anderson" helped explain things. A priest?
He returned to his seat on the bench, two very abashed dogs with him. Before long, his own boys were at his side, begging him to let the dogs play again. The pleading look the beasts gave him were almost human.
The dogs returned to play with the children, with a pronounced care and delicate touch. They acted as though the kids were made of the thinnest, most delicate glass.
Uncanny, how intelligent those creatures were.