I was twelve years old. My friend Tanya offered to go into the forest for a fat woman - this is how we call black currants in Transbaikalia. I agreed. True, the parents were against it - it was too far away. But I very much begged to let me go.
In the end, they agreed, but on the condition that we take the dogs with us. It's always welcome, dogs are not a hindrance to us!
Early in the morning Tanyukha and I set off. In the chill and with conversations, we reached the right place, almost not tired. The dogs are nearby, the berries are full. We collected a bucket - the currant is large, it is removed easily and quickly. True, the sun has already risen, it has become hot, stuffy, mosquitoes bite. It was then that fatigue fell on us.
We put the buckets on the path along which we came, I tied a scarf on a branch above them so that we could see from afar. Well, we ourselves decided to refresh ourselves and rest a little in order to gain strength on the way back. We ate berries, moving from bush to bush, sat on the grass for a while and decided: it's time!
Lo and behold, my kerchief is not visible. Probably untied and fell to the ground. There are no buckets with berries either, we can't find the path they were on.
They all went up and down. We can find nothing: neither a kerchief, nor a path, nor buckets of berries. And the dogs could not be called - they ran away somewhere. They were spinning under their feet, or there were none.
To be honest, we felt uneasy. We circle around the clearing (it's not that big) and just can't get out of it. They already gave up on the berries, although it's a pity - they walked so far, they typed a whole bucket …
Tanya and I are tired, fear understands, and we do not know what to do. That and look, we'll start crying. No strength. We decided to rest again, and then look for the path again. What if you get lucky? With a girlfriend fell into the grass, and did not notice how they fell asleep. As if someone turned us off.
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I don't know how long we slept, but not for long. We open our eyes - and here it is, a kerchief, hanging on a branch, buckets of currants under it stand on the path. It turned out that we were sleeping on the path itself! And the dogs are right there, you don't even need to call.
We grabbed our buckets and went home. Where has fatigue just gone! And the fear was gone. We agreed not to tell our family, otherwise we would have got it! But we no longer risked walking together so far into the forest: once it cost, and the second time it is still unknown how it will be.
So I think: maybe the goblin was joking at us then? Like, the elders must be obeyed. After all, my mother did not want to let me go, she said that in those places the devil leads people. Will you convince me? So I got a lesson. But in fact, what happened remained a mystery to us.
Lyudmila Petrovna ANTOKHINA, Borovsk, Kaluga region. Magazine "Non-fictional stories" №21