Romania, Dearest

Andra Toropoc
I am your daughter and it is hard for me to accept that some brothers have left. With your milk did they grow and they abandoned you when you became too little for their dreams. They remember on your birthday to say you'd be their home and they miss you, none of them thank you, but you serenely accept them all. She looked at me gently. You will be blamed, don't criticize, you must understand them. They have chosen a path, and I have not been their priority, but I am glad to know they are well. I hugged her, You're wise. She sighed, I am not, you see me that way because you love me.

Cristina Daniela Dumitru-Pascal
Forgive me that when life put me down and people pressed their boots against my throat, I bit into your body. I sunk my teeth into it and filled my mouth, So I'd keep quiet, so I wouldn't spew words. You became a hill under my chest, lifting me up and telling me to leave. I didn't because you'd given me people to love. Now that I'm alone, I can't leave you. We've both grown old, and I don't know when I'll find peace within your soil. My granny, let's have coffee on December 1st, like old friends.

Cecilia Fofiu
Great-Mir presides over the telepathic meeting of the inhabitants of the planet Mirsa in the Qna galaxy. They decide on the geographical coordinates of Earth as the future location of their command headquarters, following the Mirsans' teleportation to the rich planet with ideal resources for their needs. The Chief Opion solemnly announces the position of the headquarters will be at 45o longitude and 25o latitude. The area is referred to as Romania by Earthlings. From their Starlink satellites, we learned of the secret, strategic tunnels of the Dacians, an extinct civilization.

(Translated by Adriana-Maria Botea / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year I / 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 December 2023, the group has 12,210 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.