The summer was very long
The story of a boy from Kyiv region
Usually summer holidays in our village passed uneventfully. We rested and didn’t even realize how time flew. We went to Kyiv as a family sometimes, just for a day. But mostly we spent the whole summer playing football with the neighbours.
Behind our garden there’s a forest, and further on — a really cool clearing. We always played there. Well, we used to. Before the war…
After that, we weren’t allowed to go anywhere beyond the garden. It was dangerous after the occupation. Every morning Mom said, “Timur, you remember — no going into the forest.” Even Dad reminded me from the front when he called.
That summer was very long. I finished all my computer games and even started reading books.
And then one day after school — sometime in October, I think — I saw some men outside the window. With devices. And a dog. Mom was in the garden; they talked to her, and it turned out they had demined our forest!
I was so happy that we could play in our clearing again. It was muddy already, slippery — but we ran anyway!