Anicuța is awakened by a knock on the door. She opens it. Old Gelu, in a suit, with a chrysanthemum in his teeth, smiles gallantly. I'm here. Who called you? asks the old woman. You, today, at Nae's funeral. You winked at me when you pretended to cry. You jerk, what do you take me for? You think I couldn't wait for my man to die so you could come at me? She turns nervously to Nae's picture hanging on the hallway wall: Say something, man. Nae smiles reassuringly. You know what, Gelu? Silence is an answer, too. Here, come in. One life we have.
(Translated by Adrian-George Ilinca / 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 2023, the group has 10,500 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. 
