I told you not to let go of my handbag, didn't I? Don't hold me by the hand, hold the bag. I'll keep you by the leash, just like a dog. So that you'll never leave my side again. Pow! I go into the store for two minutes and, instead of following me, you ran off to the toys isle. As if toys are what you need. Bang! If you do that again, I'll send you off to an orphanage. Let them take care of you, cause I'm sick of you not listening to what I say. Whoosh! I nearly died worrying for you, my heart stood still. Are you listening? Stop crying so much, child. Bam!
(Translated by Ana Stănilă / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year I / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)
Real Fiction is a collective project started in 2013 by Florin Piersic Jr. The concept of Real Fiction continued to exist as a Facebook group, after a volume of stories was published at Humanitas Publishing House. (In February 2021, the group has 4.300 members.) The authors write ultra-short stories, with the texts limited to 500 characters (in Romanian, so the length of the English translation might be a little different) - a flash-fiction exercise on a topic that changes every few days. The group's coordinators are Florin Piersic Jr., Gabriel Molnar, and Luchian Abel. (Drawing by Adrian T. Roman)
Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficţiuni Reale. 
