New Times

Titela Durnea
Mircea, you're saying that this is what the future looks like? he asks me as he pushes his hat back and scratches himself, his eyes peeking from under the thick lenses. Come on, Uncle Timofte. Don't be like that. You have to understand that the world is changing. We can't just add it up with pen on paper anymore. We're modernizing too. Uncle Timofte watches the noisy machine rattling on the desk. I'm just telling you, Mircea, that those figures will somehow settle down, but in these new times you could use an old man. You'll be still needing a grain of wisdom, won't you.

Florentina Ghițescu
It's cold in the house again. The fire went out overnight. That was his job. What a good man I had, getting up every night to light the fire so I could stay warm. He never told me he loved me, those were different times. All our flowers wilted after he died. He knew how to talk to them and even though I watered them the same way he did, they died. When he went to town to buy food, he'd come back with flowers thrown away by stores or given away for a trifle. Now I watch movies and hear only I love you, these are new times.
 
 Ana Maria Vaida
I told them I wasn't coming back. Milking cows, hoeing? Making muffins, making jam for the winter? There's still jam in the pantry from seven years ago. In Italy I looked after the elderly, picked oranges, served meals. I've got a few pennies saved up. No luck with men. Today, if you're smart, you put your money to work. I saw online that it's easy to invest in Dubai. There's a lady from Romania who's doing very well. Always by the pool, always with her make-up on, all dolled up. Says she takes care of everything. I'm thinking of contacting her.

(Translated by Anca Maria Florea / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year II / Corrected by prof. dr. Nadina Vișan, Edited by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)