Yesterday It Started Falling

Florina Hegedüs
When I cook, he stays with me in the kitchen. He browses through pages on the internet and talks to me. The sound of his voice is the most beautiful music to me. Today it's just me and I'm standing with the slotted spoon in my hand, watching the brownish clouds gather over the meat soup. I hear him come into the house and smile endearingly when he appears in the kitchen. He sits down. And he's silent. The soup starts to simmer. He keeps silent. The volcano in the pot is spewing foam towards the edges. Yesterday - he says in a foreign voice and stops. I don't need the slotted spoon anymore. The soup has already come to a boil.

Ana Maria Dobre-Nir
Did you see that disaster? We'll go one at a time or in groups. After us, the robots. I don't mind it. In fact, come to think of it, it can't be that bad. We didn't make the most of what we had either. Give me another hundred; this is the last one. After that I'll run to the hospital because my wife is giving birth. I have a lot of children. I can't keep count of them anymore. We eat what we can get our hands on. The little ones are really happy. Sometimes they receive a toy, a new coat. They don't need much. I sometimes go out to work the land, my wife does the cleaning. Yes, many, because I love life. I love the woman too.

Paul Dârvariu
one apple at a time, now they are all falling. Gee, sir Grigore, you're so unlucky. You're out of apples. Not at all, Mișu. I can't wait till they've all fallen. I made a deal with my wife. I bring her the ones I pick from the tree, and I'll settle for the ones that fell in the grass. You are so good-natured, sir Grigore; you save the good apples for Mrs. Cocuța and you, being more humble, take the bad ones. I wouldn't say that, Mișu. If you were me, what would you do if you had to choose between a platter of strudel and a small bottle of fruit brandy?

(Translated by Raluca Ioana Crucerescu / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year II / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)


Real Fiction is a collective project started in 2013 by Florin Piersic Jr. The concept of Real Fiction continued to exist as a Facebook group, after a volume of stories was published at Humanitas Publishing House. (In November 2023, the group has 12,090 members.) The authors write ultra-short stories, with the texts limited to 500 characters (in Romanian, so the length of the English translation might be a little different) - a flash-fiction exercise on a topic that changes every few days. The group's coordinators are Florin Piersic Jr., Gabriel Molnar, Răzvan Penescu, Luchian Abel, and Vlad Mușat. (Drawing by Adrian T. Roman)

Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale.