This strange incident happened in early June 1980. We, first-year students of the Moscow Institute of Economics and Mathematics, having successfully passed the session (that year in the capital in connection with the Olympics, exams were taken in advance), went on a hike for several days to places near the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve.
The reserve is located on the left bank of the Oka, in the Serpukhov district of the Moscow region. Those places have wonderful nature. We got there by river tram from the Southern river port, landed at some small distant pier. Its name, unfortunately, has not been remembered. For some reason, the pier was far from settlements. Further, five or six kilometers along the Oka were walking.
We settled down on the banks of the river. Forest, fresh grass, birds, bees, butterflies. There is no one around, only our group - twelve people. We had a wonderful time: we sang with a guitar, sitting by the fire, drank tea with a smoke, smoked fish caught right there. Four days passed quickly.
We decided to return on the fifth day after lunch. I will note that, since the places are remote, the river tram ran only twice a day - in the morning and in the evening. All perfectly.
True, the mechanical watches stopped at two boys, but this is such a trifle that no one paid attention to it. You never know, maybe they forgot to start, or they stopped from the blow, we ran, played football.
Day 5: tents are packed, things are packed in backpacks, rubbish is removed, fire is extinguished. The students checked their watches and one after another along the narrow path moved to the pier. I walked alongside my friend, the organizer and "leader" of our trip, Mikhail.
The clock was about four o'clock in the afternoon. I walked and looked at the sky, at the sun, and something confused me.
“It's strange, yesterday at the same time the sun was much higher than today,” I said to my friend. He agreed.
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We waited patiently for the arrival of the tram. But 10, 20, 30 minutes passed, and he was not there. And a bit dark for this time of day. Suddenly a man appeared, driving a cow in front of him.
- Do you know why there is no tram? - we asked him.
“Guys, you’re late, he’s gone,” the man replied.
- How did you leave? Time is only six, and we have been waiting for forty minutes.
- What is six? Look to the sky, students! The sun is very low. It's already eight. I drive a cow from the pasture.
We all looked at our watches. All (!) Have the same time - 18:00. Yes, the clock stopped at two of them, they set the time, asking others. But the group is big, everyone has a watch.
We were amazed and upset. We are upset because the parents were told about the five-day hike, now they will be worried, looking for us (by the way, this is what happened, as it turned out later). There is nowhere to call and warn. The phone in the lonely booth on the pier is broken. And we are all tormented by the question - where did the two hours go?
Nothing to do, returned to their original place. They did not set up tents. We decided to sit around the fire for the night and leave already on the morning tram.
Mishka played the guitar, drank tea, sang. But the mood was not very cheerful. We were saddened that the parents were probably in a panic and called back. It's good that I told my mom in advance that we might be late. It was she who, when they called her, reassured everyone. The next day, we reached Moscow safely.
Many years later. I am still tormented by the question: how did all the guys have clocks behind by two hours?
By the way, I heard about these remote places more than once in the future. One of my friends told me that people went there specially to encounter something mysterious.
Elena I. BUKHAREVA, Moscow