She took the bottle of wine and threw it after him. Luckily he got away in time, otherwise the story would have sounded different. She froze, she hadn't expected to feel something so strong. When they took her out of the factory, they told her that her emotions were almost human, and from what she understood from the other sisters, that meant a tear, a smile, which happened so rarely that people called them miracles. She didn't know what made her do it, maybe she was defective or maybe the fool loaded her with too many romance books and movies.
Monica Bologa
That's what my grandmother told me when I accidentally broke a glass. To ensure my luck in life, I started dropping plates, coffee cups and all kinds of glassware. I took a lot of beating from my mother for this, but my grandmother told me that where my mother beats me, it only flourishes. Now I am 60 years old, single, poor and living with my mother who is almost deaf and has Alzheimer. Yesterday she dropped a glass of water on the floor. She started to cry like a baby. Stop it, mother - I told her - the shards bring shit. Be grateful that you didn't cut yourself.
Costi Gălățanu
On Mătăsari street, at number 87, in a small and dilapidated house lived Mr. Mutu, a lonely and poor old man. Right in front of his house we had made a tennis court with our foot. Many times we happened to break one of his windows. He would come out, swear at us and run after us with a broom tail, much to our amusement. He had never managed to catch one of us, though he was still tough for his age. It was the same the day when, while he was running with the broom, his gas cylinder exploded.
(Translated by Andreea Laura Stanca / 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.