I wake up with a sour taste in my mouth and the feeling that I've missed something. A quick recap: the car, the boots, the clothes - I cleaned them all, I took a shower. I had taken care of everything - when I left, it looked like a gone-wrong love affair. I must retrace yesterday's route. I put on my glasses and set off. About halfway there, I remember the dog sitting in front of the gate when I left her house. The shiny thing on his collar was a video camera. I stop the session, frustrated. Not even in virtual reality can I do whatever I want anymore.
Ana Maria Dobre-Nir
A puff from a cigarette found in a drawer that belonged to her until yesterday. Now it sits empty. He struggles to fill this space which reminds him of her colorful panties. Dust clinging to a fingertip. An armchair on which they made love so many times, sits covered with wrinkled shirts.I hate you. A slap across the face. Sex again. Love doesn't last, says a friend. She's kissing a stranger in the dark. I stop the car. I start the car. I go around. A gunshot is fired. Officer, this is where the road led me.
Horațiu Dudău
As he stepped out of the house, he felt his right eye twitching. After a hundred meters, the urge to turn back began to torment him, but such thing was impossible. It would have ruined his whole day. He continued resolutely and took the shortcut which led to the heart of the village. But the pressure was building. Enough. He can't take it anymore. He'll stop at the bar first. He hurried down the street on his right, but a black cat crosses his path. He stopped. Then he moved on. He stopped again. He froze. The feeling of his left palmitching came as a relief.
(Translated by Marian-Cătălin Niculăescu / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year I / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)
Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale.