Maxim closed his eyes. Suddenly, the walls of his room faded away. He wasn't in his bedroom anymore; he was standing on a windy platform at Station A. A giant steam engine hissed beside him. The conductor, who looked remarkably like the illustration of a wise owl from his textbook, checked a gold pocket watch.
Maxim opened his eyes. He was back at his desk. He smiled, picked up his pen, and neatly wrote "Answer: 10:00 AM" into his notebook. For the first time, the Rudnitskaya textbook didn't feel like a chore—it felt like a map to another world. Maxim closed his eyes
The Owl-Conductor smiled, blew a silver whistle, and the train let out a triumphant CHOO-CHOO! The world began to blur. The steam turned into the smell of his mom's cooking, and the cold wind turned into the hum of his bedroom fan. A giant steam engine hissed beside him
"Two hours!" Maxim shouted over the roar of the engine. "They will meet in exactly two hours, at 10:00 AM!" He was back at his desk
Maxim sat at his desk, staring at his 4th-grade math textbook. The orange and white cover seemed to glow under his desk lamp. He flipped to a page filled with diagrams of trains and clocks.