Open the door, the officer on duty yelled at the guard, showing him the grill. Behind him, on the cold, wet floor, the man's naked body was shaking with spasms. Look, the thief is shaking, the officer grinned, touching him with the toe of his boot. Attention! he called them. The one on the floor tried to get up but collapsed gasping. Piece of shit, howled the decorated man, hitting him with the cane. Up, idiot, can't you hear? He managed to do it, leaning against the wall. He looked the officer in the eye. Forgive him, God, for he does not know what he is doing.
Bogdan Sebastian Burjan
Walking down the road of his life, a grate appears in front of him. And a bearded man next to him. He looks back and sees his childhood home. Where he has lived until this moment. He sees all the people he has met, talked to, or passed by. He sees all the jobs he's had and lost. Just like people. And a few years in prison for petty theft. There was also that little redhead with pigtails and red hair. What's behind the grate? Your life, the bearded man told him. If you had answered the phone back then.
Paul Dârvariu
I'm dying here, in the pub, and I don't remember what you call those panties made of strips of calfskin, sewn in the form of a grate. Bro, those that have two holes at the bottom and a lock in the front. Yes, sir, as you say: those crucified knights dressed their wives with these panties, when they went to war, they locked the lock and hung the key around their neck. What? Chastity belt? Thanks, man, for reminding me. I see you're good at vocabulary. Now explain to me: what is chastity?
(Translated by Bianca-Andreea Rîmboacă / 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.