To start with, I've already been a president. For more than one day. Female president. In charge of a political party. I could have ruled the country but people just ain't no good, they won't let me. I used to be the prime minister, though. It was quite all right, but it was hard work and I had to clean up a man's mess all the time. At first, I did like it, but then I just didn't. You see, Granny had taught me that you ought to clean your own mess. I am a personal advisor for the moment, but what's keeping me from getting in charge, from becoming governor? No, I'm not going back to the government. Working for the Central Bank suits me better. Also, it's a lot easier to clean up.
(Translated by Elena Florea / 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 June 2021, the group has 6.650 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, Răzvan Penescu, and Luchian Abel. (Drawing by Adrian T. Roman)
Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficţiuni Reale. 
