Camel from Kyzylkum

THE MURUNTAU GOLD DEPOSIT in the Kyzylkum Desert in western Uzbekistan was—and still is—one of the largest individual gold deposits worldwide, with resources in excess of 5000 metric tons of gold. Discovered in 1958, it has been in operation since 1967 using an open-pit method. It is owned by Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combinat (NMMC). Gold from the open-pit mine and underground mining was conducted via trucks and conveyors to the Besapan processing plant. In my time, the pure bricks of gold were sent by special airplane every day—directly to Moscow. First, a small village Muruntau was established near the field of the gold mining complex. Soon it expanded and transformed into a larger settlement.

There was a daycare in the village of Muruntau that Natasha attended. I developed a friendship with Gutya Makarova; her daughter, Olga Makarova, became Natasha’s best friend. Today, Olga lives with her daughter, Anna, in Moscow. Anna’s father lives in New York City. At least twice a year they come to the States for a visit. They visited us once in Virginia in January 2011.

In Muruntau, Nikolai built our little sauna (banya) next to the house—it was a good reason for our friends to visit us. We did not have bathrooms inside of the house, and the house was more like a barracks meant for a temporary stay. On the weekends, Gutya, Olga, Natasha, and I liked to climb the Muruntau mountains that were just behind our houses. Sometimes, at night, we could see a big, red and orange, round object, UFO-like, rising slowly above the Muruntau mountains and slowly dissolving from the inside out. It was an unknown and mysterious sight that always caused excitement and fear at the same time. Perhaps, a new rocket or a new weapon was being tested at the Baikonur Cosmodrome or, perhaps, it was a real UFO. I preferred to think that it was a real UFO—I believe our planet Earth has been visited by beings from another world before, and, at that time, I wanted to imagine that, perhaps, they came again and I could see them descending down the mountains in their own inexplicable way.

We had a gray dog who had black spots; her name was Strelka. Strelka was not a purebred dog. She was just a pooch freely wandering around and sleeping under our porch. One day, we looked under the porch and discovered Strelka there with five cute little puppies. They were like their Mama—gray with black spots. Natasha adored little puppies.

One morning, when I took Natasha to daycare, as usual, I said goodbye near the gates. From there she always went into the building by herself, and I ran to work because I was almost late. When at the end of the working day I came to pick Natasha up from the daycare, I was surprised to hear from the teacher that Natasha was not there. What a stressful evening; we had searched for our daughter everywhere! After several hours, with no success, we collapsed on the porch absolutely exhausted and desperate. Suddenly we heard some strange noise coming from under the porch. We looked there and found our dog Strelka with not only her puppies but also our daughter—all of them were taking a good nap together. Natasha always had a way with animals, winning their love and trust. That is one story with a happy ending that I will never forget.