THUNDERSTORM

This time I will again offer you a non-fictional story. This is a completely ordinary event that happened in the life of one girl, but which remained in her memory forever.

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We are going back a little more than half a century to a picturesque remote village at the beginning of the Carpathians. The terrain here is very hilly, but it is not yet mountains. The village was spread out in the valley of a small mountain river, surrounded by spacious fields, sometimes pierced by ravines, overgrown with trees and bushes. From the southern side, you can see the endless wall of the ancient forest, which is always involved in the life of the villagers, which hides many secrets, which lives its own life.

From generation to generation, the villagers were engaged in agriculture. But there was a moment in history when everything changed. They had to give up their land to create a collective farm, each of them was left with only a tiny piece of land near their house. However, age-old traditions are difficult to break. People continued to cultivate the land and even keep large livestock. Due to the fact that all the land around the village belonged to the collective farm, there was nowhere to graze these cattle. People had to drive cows, overcoming steep slopes, all the way to the forest, which is located at a distance of 3 km on a high hill. There was still a piece of land overgrown with juniper, which was not of interest to the then authorities.

In those days, people had little choice in life. Whether you wanted it or not, you had to work on a collective farm. Therefore, the responsibility of tending one's own cow often fell on the shoulders of children. It was quite normal to even skip school for this. But people were looking for different ways out, and one of them was to join the so-called queues. People took turns grazing not only their own cows, but also those of their neighbors.

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One fine day, ten-year-old Olya woke up very early. She didn't want to get up at all, she knew that she and her friend needed to drive as many as 60 cows to the pasture. It was so boring, what was there to do all day? Sometimes the cows behave restlessly and you have to run after them until your strength leaves you.

Olya wanted to soak in the crib for at least a few more minutes, but her mother pushed her, forcing her to get up immediately. The child, overcoming the irresistible desire to sleep, got out of bed and went to wash.

After breakfast, mom packed Olya's food in a bag. The child wore rubber boots, because on the way you have to ford two small rivers, and somehow protect yourself from ticks, which are always plentiful in the pasture.

She and her mother went outside. The sky was cloudless, and the sun from the very morning showered everything around with its burning rays. However, it was still very low, so all the shadows were surprisingly long. Night dew hid in shady places. Olya stepped on the dewy grass and mentally rejoiced in her rubber boots, which protect her feet so well from moisture.

Stepping outside her own yard, Olya saw that the neighbors were already herding their cattle. She eagerly looked around waiting for her friend, because driving 60 cows alone is extremely difficult and even scary. Precious minutes flew by, but the friend still did not appear. Finally, she appeared from around the corner of the street, chasing the last cow - her own. Olya was very happy to see her friend, and even hugged her. The children, shouting loudly, drove the huge herd up the steep ascent.

The road was long, but this time the animals decided not to create unnecessary problems for the children. A little less than an hour later, they were already in the pasture. The cows went about their business, and the children were able to sit down and rest.

Time passed surprisingly long. The children were bored, they invented various games, but even this did not save them from boredom. Olya liked to read, but she had already read all the books that were at home, so she did not take any with her today. First you need to visit the school library.

Closer to lunch, the children noticed that clouds appeared far away on the horizon from the side of the village. There was nothing surprising in this, it is a common occurrence in the summer. Thunderous clouds form directly above the Carpathians and often visit here. However, very quickly, in the midst of a cheerful children's conversation, they heard a very loud rumble of thunder. Out of surprise, they looked around sharply and could not contain their surprise. A huge storm cloud came from somewhere and moved towards them at high speed.

The village was located on the path of the cloud. Olya watched as the cloud covered her native places just before her eyes. She caught her breath, her heart began to beat very fast. During her short childhood, Olya had already seen hundreds of thunderstorms, but she had never seen such a storm cloud. her color was... black. Yes, yes, complete impenetrable blackness. Every second, lightning burst from the clouds and mercilessly hit the ground. The roar of the thunder was so strong that it was difficult for the children to even exchange a word.

With a premonition of something terrible, tears rolled down Ola's eyes. She imagined what would happen when this cloud came to them, how terrible it would be. The cows will get scared and run away, and they, the children, will be forced to overcome this fear, ignore the danger, and run to turn the cattle back. Olya was very afraid to be in an open area during a thunderstorm, and who wouldn't be afraid?

The children stood and looked doomed at the elements, waiting for their inevitable fate. This storm cloud was unusual in everything, but Olya noticed something else. She noticed that she was looking down on this storm. The cloud was so heavy that it seemed to be at a lower altitude than the children on the hill. A storm cloud literally sat on the village and completely covered it from Olina's view.

Long minutes of fear passed, they turned into dozens of minutes, and then half an hour. Olya realized that the cloud stopped moving, it literally stopped in place.

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Olya's mother worked in a collective farm, she was an educated woman, and therefore had the privilege of keeping documentation. Suddenly, it became dark outside her office window, which was strange, because the lights had to be turned on in the middle of the day. the woman did not have time to understand what had happened, as sharp gusts of wind began to break the dry branches of the surrounding trees. And then there was an unmistakable rumble of thunder, so powerful that it forced a person to sit down. Only one single thought flashed through the woman's head: "Olya!"

Without wasting time asking for permission to leave work, she grabbed a raincoat and ran to her child. As soon as she went outside, she fell into a hell. The wind knocked her off her feet, but she got up and went on. She wanted to run, but fighting against the wind gusts of incredible force was too exhausting. Branches of trees fell all around, sometimes of a threatening size. Everything that could open opened in the sky, and a solid wall of water fell on the village. No, it was not a downpour, people have not yet come up with words to describe what it was.

To the woman, and her name was Hanna, it seemed that she had been walking for an eternity, but she had not even left the village. The streets turned into rivers and now she had to fight not only with gusts of wind, but also with a fast current.

Making incredible efforts, Hanna finally saw the last house of the village, behind which flows a small mountain river. She continued her difficult struggle, when suddenly she felt a blow, then a second one, followed by a third one... Hail, the size of a chicken egg, fell from the sky. Despite the raincoat, sometimes the hailstorms were annoying. But the thought of her child drove the woman forward. She knew she needed to cross the river as soon as possible. This small mountain river during the rain instantly turns into a huge river monster, capable of easily demolishing even concrete bridges.

Seeing the river, Hanna realized that she had come too late. Unstoppable stormy brown waters from the washed away soil played with the rubble of the bench that could be used to cross the river. But nothing can stop a mother on the way to saving her child. Without thinking for a moment, she entered the stormy waters. Trying to stay on her feet with all her might, she took every step with inhuman effort. However, the water knows no mercy, it rushed with all its force on a defenseless person, knocked her off her feet and carried her in the direction that only he could see. The stones hit Hanna painfully, she instinctively grabbed with her hands for everything she could reach. The river was not wide, so at the very first turn, Hanna came to a high bank, where she managed to grab onto a willow branch.

Willow is one of the symbols of the Ukrainian people. It is a tree that grows where there is life-giving water. This is probably the only tree in our latitudes that can be planted simply by sticking a twig into the ground. People often planted willow on the banks of rivers. It grew quickly and its roots helped keep the banks from being destroyed during floods.

It was the willow that Hanna once planted to protect the shore from constant destruction, now saved her life. The woman, clinging to the branches, made her way to land.

Then the road to the pasture awaited her. The hail continued to beat mercilessly on the head and shoulders, the downpour flooded the eyes. The road to the pasture was dirt, which was knocked down by dozens of cow hooves every day. From these hooves, the road turned into some kind of endless clay stairs. Now, in this terrible storm, these clay stairs turned into solid mass, in which a person's foot sank in places up to the knee. Hanna is literally stuck. Meanwhile, very close by, in the neighboring trees, lightning struck tirelessly. The woman had to gather the remnants of all her strength into her fist to at least take a step forward. She spent an eternity to get out of that road to the side where the collective farm field began. Yes, on the edge of the field, she was able to go much faster.

Having overcome half the way to the pasture, Hanna noticed that first the hail stopped, and then the rain. She was simply shocked to see that she was walking on a completely dry road. Climbing the next slope, where the pasture was located, she noticed two children's figures. One of them ran to Hanna with the speed of light. The mother was holding her daughter, and Olya was clinging to her mother. Tears flowed from her eyes from the joy that in the face of the elements she had such a dear protector.

Both Hanna and the children watched the storm for some time, which mercilessly tore apart the village, but it did not approach them. After some time, the cloud completely retreated, choosing another direction and not harming the children in any way.

That day the village suffered huge losses, but the main thing is that everyone remained alive. And in the evening, Olya, her friend and her mother drove all the cows full and satisfied.

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Note: The text may contain translation errors. I tried to correct most of them, but if you write a literary text in Ukrainian with all its synonyms and inflections, the translator goes crazy.