Florentina Ghițescu
Today is payday. When I was a child, I used to play and marvel at the world. Everything was new. The spoon, the remote control, the taste of blood when I hurt my finger, dandelions, and thistles. I started school, and the wonder continued. So many books, passionate teachers who told me about mathematics and physics, about Giordano Bruno and Leonardo. I found a job, and all the passion and enthusiasm were shattered by a scrap of paper - the pay check. Money evaporates like dandelion fluff.
Paul Dârvariu
That's how we were after the graduation banquet. We were getting ready to leave when Titi stopped us: Wait, I'll be right back. He returned with a jug of Cabernet. We didn't go to bed anymore. At 7, we started the traditional caroling of the girls' dormitories in Pușkin: Gaudeamus igitur, juvenes dum sumus.The girls came to the windows, clapped, and threw notes. One was for me: Coca, biology, year 2, room 406. Oh, how destiny works, Coca! I wonder how our lives would have been if I had just had one less glass?
Diana Andrasi Zarnoveanu
Like any lady of disputed origins, Josephina ordered all sorts of intricate recipes: pheasant soufflé, lamb à la Malmaison, cheese gratin in a red wine bath, and other wonders worthy of Tongue-Twister's dictionary. With the emperor, however, it was much simpler for me because he would call me from in front of the window, hand on hip as if he were ordering a painting from me, not a plate of food. Three words shouted like on the battlefield: Cook, Béchamel sauce. Cook, canard bleu. Gastronomy of the gun powder and of the Jacobine dust.
(Translated by Alin-Marian Mărgescu / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year II / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)
Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale.