Unbuttoned

Monica Aldea
The receptionist took the long receipt out of the cash register. The man was sweating visibly. The wife was delicate, smartly dressed, flushed from sledding. The clerk was closely reading the bill like an obituary. A room with panoramic view, exclusive spa, crystal powder manicure. Unzip the zipper dear. I'm warning you, he's got a heart condition. Breakfast à la carte, personal ski instructor, polyglot, athletic. Henri de Verlaine in a silver ice bucket. The consort collapses into an armchair. Unbutton his shirt and call for the manager. We're filling a complaint.

Aurelian Țolescu
In an icy cold winter, when our fingers were freezing on the mugs with mulled plum brandy, we were sitting and chatting with a surgeon in the courtyard of his little villa at the foot of the mountain. We'd stick our hands on the jug filled with warm liquid, blow on them some more and delude ourselves that the alcohol would keep us warm. And so, the doctor remembers how in the 80s, he used to operate early in the morning in a freezing hospital in the big city. He looked forward for his patient to come, so that he could cut him open, stick his hands in to warm up, so he could operate on him.

Paul Dârvariu
When I took off my backpack, I noticed the zipper was open. The pocket where I kept my wallet was empty. I recalled the short trip on the bus: the risky position on the stairs, the help given by the two passengers in the back, the care with which the sturdiest one was supporting my back, the hoarse voice of the other that was urging the passengers to step inside, the way they were rushing to get out before the next stop. I swear to you, I don't feel sorry for the documents and the money, as much as I regret the thanks I gave to those bastards.

(Translated by Maria-Ilinca Darie / 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)


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 March 2024, the group has 12,800 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.