Down the Fire Escape

Silvia Ștefan
Her wrinkled hands honoured the years she wore serenely, with a special dignity. On her forehead, the skin rose and deepened in fine lines, like the ridges seen from the captain's cabin. She wished she had one more day aboard the aircraft that was her second home. She clutched the fire escape bar in her hand and relived, eyes closed, their last flight together. The wind ran through her white hair, cooling her temples, missing her. She kissed the bridge of her palm with pursed lips and reached out to the clouds, sending her man a final tribute.

Ania Vilal
She waited with a heavy heart until her father came to pick her up. Her lipstick was smeared across her face, mascara was outlining her crying red eyes with black. She held a teddy bear tightly in her arms, who had a gentle gaze like her father's. That's how she felt protected when the room was filming her body and was invaded by cruel faces with sarcastic smiles. She was told she would never get back home, but she always hoped. She sent a paper airplane with an SOS. And now she no longer goes down into the basement, but up the stairs to his arms.
 
 Carmen Crețu
The city was getting more and more crowded and the blocks were getting taller and taller. I was having a hard time falling asleep at night. After the New York bakery caught fire and the fire spread to the apartments above, I knew I would have to do something about it. And I did. My name is Anna Connelly and I invented the fire escape. I'm among the world's first female inventors. I lived in a male-dominated world where women had only gained the right to vote a few years before. I've done well, haven't I?

(Translated by Alina-Dorina Nicolae / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year II / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)