There's no time for metaphors in this life, son. Cut the bullshit, this isn't working on me. You've got to make money, you've got to be slick. Just listen to him, he wants to learn, to be a poet. Well, do you think poetry will keep you fed when there's no food on the table? Is it school you need? You're as dumb as your mom. She too dreamt about being an artist. Good thing she came round after I slapped her few times. Now scram, before I take my belt out. Tomorrow you'll have your passport made to go to Germany with Gigi. He'll teach you everything you need to know.
(Translated by Marta Fulga / 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 August 2021, the group has 7.000 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 Ficțiuni Reale. 
