How we got lost

I came to work and before I even had a chance to change, my boss called me to her office. I turned around and went to her office. At that time, I couldn't even imagine what this summons would cost me. I racked my brains as I walked down the corridor. What had I done wrong, and why the rush? I knocked on the door and asked.

"You called for me?"

"Yes, come in, Marinochka," said Tatyana Ivanovna kindly.

I went in and sat on one of the chairs along the wall.

"Do you know why I called you?" she asked.

"No," I answered shortly.

"You haven't been working in our team for very long, but that's not so important. It's just that everyone here is already married and has children."

I tensed up completely. Probably someone reported that I like to walk around naked, and so in such a team, I'm considered an immoral worker, I thought, but Tatyana Ivanovna continued to acquaint me with the team.

"You know why I'm telling you all this," she suddenly said.

"Why?" I asked, perplexed.

"Every year we are given one family vacation voucher, and someone goes on vacation with their whole family. This year they only gave us one spot, and none of the employees wants to go alone."

"And what does that have to do with me?" I asked.

"Hold on and don't interrupt," said Tatyana Ivanovna.

I fell silent and started listening to what she was saying.

"You are the only one here who isn't married, so who else should go but you. And if we refuse, they might not give us any vouchers at all later," the boss finished her speech.

"No, I can't," I replied.

"Why?" asked Tatyana Ivanovna.

"I just don't have that kind of money, and my vacation this year is in the fall," I explained.

"That's exactly not a problem. The voucher is for the fall, we just need your application now and the paperwork, and besides, you'll need to get a passport," explained Tatyana Ivanovna.

"A passport?" I was surprised.

"The voucher is for the south, around the islands of Australia," she explained.

I was so surprised I couldn't close my mouth—I just sat there with it half-open.

"I probably can't," I said, already scared of this trip and starting to refuse.

"As for the money, we'll help you here, and the trade union committee will too. You only need to pay twenty percent," Tatyana Ivanovna explained to me.

"And how much is that?" I asked in a quiet voice.

"Well, that's within six to eight thousand," she replied.

"I can consult at home," I asked.

"Yes, of course, think it over carefully and talk to your parents—but by the end of the week you have to give me an answer," the boss told me.

"Okay," I replied and ran to my reading room.

I didn't know whether to worry or be upset. After telling Irinka about it, I got an approving response from her. She advised me to agree and go. She said another chance might not come. That if I let them down and refuse now, they might never give me a voucher again. At home, I told my parents everything, and at first they were also at a loss, but then they also advised me to agree. To be completely sure, I called my sister Svetka and told her everything. She also advised me to agree, and at the end she even joked.

"There are plenty of natives there, and you can run around naked with them, and no one will even say a word to you," she said.

"Oh, come on, I'm already scared," I replied.

"Come over to my place, and we'll look at where they're sending you," my sister suggested.

The next day after work, I went straight to my sister's, and we read and looked at the map of Australia itself and everything around it. The places were simply amazingly beautiful. Such forests and mountains and beautiful sandy beaches. Looking at all this, I was already in agreement, and the next day I went to Tatyana Ivanovna and wrote an application. She was delighted and gave me instructions on what I had to do and what documents to prepare. There was still plenty of time, but I decided not to put everything off, and the next week I started gathering everything. I had to ask for time off, as I had to apply for a passport during working hours, but they made concessions, and within two weeks the whole package of documents was collected. Contrary to my principles, I had to buy myself a good swimsuit, a change of underwear, and a couple of comfortable things for vacation. I already had some things. Well, in general, over the remaining month I packed my suitcase and was practically ready, but anxiety gave me no peace. I had never traveled so far before, let alone flown on a plane at all.

The day of departure arrived. Everyone was gathered at the airport, and after checking in, we were already climbing the stairs and, according to our tickets, taking our seats. Sitting with me was a woman, though you wouldn't say it by looking at her. She looked quite young and full of energy. And at the very edge sat an elderly man. We fastened our seatbelts, as the flight attendant told us, and the plane began taxiing onto the runway. I was shaking terribly, and my neighbor noticed.

"Is it your first time flying on a plane?" she asked.

"Yeah," I replied.

"On a voucher?" she asked.

"Yes," I replied.

"I'm on a voucher too. My name is Lena," my neighbor introduced herself.

"Very nice, Marina," I replied.

While we were getting acquainted, I didn't even notice how the plane gained speed and began to lift off the ground. I saw how everything flashed before my eyes so lightning fast and became smaller and smaller. I was both scared and interested, and I began to peer out the window, simultaneously looking at my companion and neighbor. Soon we rose above the clouds, and the ground was no longer visible, but I saw something I had never seen in my life—a huge snowy white sea. It was so beautiful that I couldn't take my eyes off it.

"Sit in my seat," Lena offered.

"Thank you," I agreed happily, and we quickly switched places.

Now I could see not only the whiteness of the clouds but also the blue, clear sky that is visible from the ground on a cloudless day. It was indescribably beautiful. I don't remember exactly how long I admired such beauty until Lena called out to me. The flight attendant was standing nearby and asking me.

"Would you like tea or coffee?"

"How much does it cost?" I asked.

The flight attendant, and Lena with her, smiled and explained to me that it was all included in the ticket price and was free. I was so embarrassed that I blushed a little, but I didn't refuse the tea. Lena then explained a few more things to me, and we started talking. It turned out that she was also traveling on a voucher and in the same group. The one I was in. She was from Dnipropetrovsk. Then she told me about her first time flying on a plane, and we even had fun. For the entire flight, we talked about our lives and even agreed that for the whole time we would be on vacation and going on excursions, we would be together. I was glad that Lena agreed to enlighten me about many things I didn't know. She seemed like a very good and kind person to me, and later I was convinced of this more than once.

By the end of the flight, I already knew a lot about Lena, that she had a son, and that she had long dreamed of taking a break from the city bustle. I also told her about myself, and we even had something in common.

Upon arrival, we were accommodated in a small and very cozy hotel on the ocean shore. The view from the room window was simply wonderful. The ocean, the horizon, and the blue sky, and on the water many ships and pleasure yachts with colorful sails. The excursion was scheduled for tomorrow, and the evening was free.

"Let's go for a walk along the shore," Lena suggested.

"Let's go," I agreed.

We walked, and I kept turning my head in all directions. Everything around was so unusual and beautiful. Completely different trees, tanned and dark-skinned people. Lots of cars and unusual motorcycle-taxis. We decided to ride on one of these, and to our surprise, the driver, though with difficulty, spoke Russian. Of course, we could understand him. But how he understood us—we could hardly understand. Lena explained to him where and how we would like to ride, and he nodded happily, and we set off. From the open three-wheeled motorcycle, we could see everything around well. We didn't go very fast, and I managed to look at everything, though not so thoroughly. I marveled at the beauty and landscapes flying past us. Leaving the city limits, we turned off the road and soon found ourselves on a hill with a beautiful view of the city and the ocean. It was even more beautiful than the view from the hotel window. After admiring the beauty as much as my eyes could take, we drove back. After paying the taxi near the hotel, he offered us a ride for tomorrow, but we disappointed him, as we had a scheduled excursion on a boat to the neighboring islands.

After dinner, Lena and I went to the beach and swam in the warm ocean, lay on the sand, and returned to the room. The rooms were double, and at our request, they placed us together. So it was easy and fun for us, and we had something to talk about and share impressions of the first hours in the country and in a completely different hemisphere of our earth, where it was warm or even hot, while in the Urals at that time it was probably raining in autumn.

I don't remember when and how Lena and I fell asleep, because I was very excited from the impressions of what I had seen. In the morning after breakfast, we were divided into groups of several people, and we went to the pier, where our boats were already waiting for us. Married couples and groups took larger boats. Lena and I, and three other people with them, got a not very large boat, and the whole group on four boats sailed towards an island barely visible on the horizon. It was very quiet, and the slight rocking made me a little seasick, so I sat down and leaned against the back of the seat to distract my gaze from the water rushing past us—not just water, but a huge thickness of water, which scared me a lot. And I was also afraid that nothing would happen to us and that we wouldn't fall into the mouth of a shark, which we sometimes saw at a decent distance.

On the island, untouched nature and small houses on its coast awaited us. We didn't hear what the guide was saying, as it was difficult to both listen and admire the beauty of the nature of these islands untouched by civilization. After walking around this island, we went to another. Now there were only three of us on our boat: me, Lena, and our helmsman or whoever he was. Those three turned out to be residents of the first island and stayed there. The other two islands turned out to be even more beautiful than the previous ones. Impenetrable forests, mountains and hills, and many beautiful birds that scared us by flying from tree to tree and frightening us with their cries. So, talking with Lena and flinching from the unexpected cries of birds, we fell behind a little and didn't notice how we turned onto the wrong path that the whole group had taken. Suspecting nothing, we quickened our pace and continued to laugh and have fun while hurrying to catch up with our group. No matter how much we hurried, our group was nowhere to be found. We started to worry and even tried to shout—but in response, we heard nothing that would calm us down. Realizing that we had lost our way, we decided to go back. On the way, fear gripped us, and we lost our walking rhythm in the impenetrable forest. First one, then the other fell. Helping each other—Lena helping me, then me helping her—we soon came back to the sea and didn't find a single boat on the shore where we had landed not long ago. We were terribly scared and didn't know what to do. Looking at each other, we first laughed, and then some kind of fear gripped us. Both my and Lena's blouses were torn in several places, and my skirt was holding on by a thread, and with every step my right leg was exposed up to my waist.

"What are we going to do?" I asked, my voice trembling.

"I don't know," Lena replied.

"I think we should wait here," I suggested.

"Let's wait, maybe they'll come back for us," Lena agreed.

When the whole group landed on the shore and went along the path through the island, all the boats moved away from the shore and, rounding it, moored on the other side. Our boat asked one of the boats to pick us up, and it returned to the first island. We didn't know any of this and didn't even suspect that the group would cross the island on foot, and we continued to wait. And on the other side of the island, everyone boarded their boats, and when someone asked if everyone was gathered. Not suspecting that we were supposed to be on one of these boats too, everyone unanimously answered that everyone was gathered, and the group calmly returned—but without us.

We were already hungry and started walking along the shore, finding something edible and tasting it. For the first time, I remembered my sister with a kind word, because before the trip we read a lot about these islands on the internet, and I knew something. After quenching our hunger a little, we decided that there was no point in waiting anymore and started looking for a place to spend the night. A small recess between the rocks covered with lush greenery was just right for us. There wasn't much space, but the open sea from this elevation was very good. After discussing my option with Lena, we accepted it unanimously and began to climb up the rock. The path was not very well-trodden, but not too dangerous for climbing. Although we were already exhausted and worn out, and first I, then Lena fell. By the time we climbed up, which was a little higher than a three-story house, we were completely worn out. My skirt was only a name, and I carried it in my hands. There were several bruises on my legs—not very big ones. But that wasn't so important. If they found us tomorrow, we had nothing to wear to appear before people. To avoid tearing what was left completely, Lena made a suggestion.

"Let's put our clothes here so as not to tear them completely," she suggested.

"What if someone sees us?" I asked.

"There doesn't seem to be anyone on this island," Lena said, and I agreed with her.

We took off everything we had on, and since we had already slept in our nightgowns in the hotel and changed without embarrassment in front of each other, it wasn't too difficult for us. Soon it began to get dark, and we lay down on the soft grass and soon fell asleep. We were lucky that we got lost on this island and not on the previous one, where we were led along a wide and cleared path. On this island, besides birds, there were no other animals, let alone snakes. But we didn't even think about it then and slept soundly.

We woke up early in the morning from the cries of birds and, getting up, began to look from above at the sandy shore and the smooth surface of the sea or ocean. It didn't matter to us which it was. We were hungry again, and taking our torn clothes, we set off naked along the shore in search of edible fruits. Finding them wasn't difficult, and since I was younger and a little more agile, I had to climb and get them. We succeeded, and within half an hour we were sitting by the water, washing off the sand and dirt or clay. The sea was clean, and only in the distance did some large ship sail by. We couldn't even signal to it—we simply had nothing to signal with, and it was so far away it wouldn't have noticed anything anyway. After wandering a little along the shoreline, we climbed back up the rock where we spent the first night, ate everything we had and some fruit