She saw in a movie that if you want to fix something which did not have the intended result, for example, a word, a deed or a gesture, it is simple: you enter a wardrobe, you focus a bit, clench your fists and Bob's your uncle! You turn back before the zero point and you try over and over again until you reach perfection. She scraped the bridge of her palm with her fingernails as she clenched her fists a few times, but still failed to impersonate the character. Besides, a hinge of her wardrobe door broke. Now she is eating a Madeleine cake and is spinning counter clockwise the hands of the clock.
Ruxandra Donose
I stand in front of the traffic lights carrying the shop bag with the ingredients for the dinner I will be cooking for the family. I tell myself that I am glad, but because I am tired, I would really love a hot bath and a pizza. The lights turn green, I step, a red convertible is almost hits me. Standing behind the steering wheel, the man looks vaguely familiar to me. Ray-Bans, the shirt fluttering over his exposed chest, near him a blonde woman laughing loudly with too shiny teeth. Too much young and noisy she was for his grey hair. It was my husband. It seems like he is in search after his youth. I drop the shop bag and the time is lost. Irrevocably.
Arthur Ianosi
Don't upset me[1], do you know if my watch stopped ticking? I do not upset you, young man, I am upset enough to make others upset. I see that you have nothing at your wrist, perhaps you hide it in your pockets. Oh, no, I don't hide, I am honest[2] because my heart beats just in time. Could you tilt your head to the left so you can listen to it a bit? With all my heart, the stranger said, I haven't listened to a tick- tack[3] for a long time. Sighing hopelessly, he pressed his ear against my shabby cardigan. It's still working, he said to me. You have no idea how happy I am. Oh!
[1]Generally, the second person singular is present in the Romanian expression that comes as an apologize followed by an interrogation: "Nu te supăra, știi cumva [...]?" However, in this case, it is no longer a form of apologize, but a direct way of asking for a certain information. I found the verb to upset instead of to excuse as in "Excuse me!" (a polite way of initiating a small conversation with a stranger) more suitable for this context.
[2]In this situation, I considered that the adjective honest can better cover the meaning of "being transparent", a quality of a person who is not afraid to show his/her emotions.
[3]The whole text focuses on the association between the clock and the heart. The common aspect that they share is the sound of their beat. The heart is a biological clock and this is why the tick-tack perfectly describes its mechanism.
(Translated by Irina Vild / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year I / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)
Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale.