Among Strangers

Dan Banu
Kurt had a stormy day. The wind was blowing so hard that he barely stood on his feet. He clutched the umbrella in his hand, but it turned upside down and it stayed that way, like a boat. Then it started to rain. With fish. At home he took out the fish and put them in a fish tank. Another day it rained with frogs. Kurt took them out of the boat and found them a place to sleep in. Then it rained with snails, with crabs, with clams. Nobody else but Kurt saw them. And he asked himself why. Having arrived home he picked up Anne's photograph from the shelf and cried.
 
Ana Maria Dobre-Nir
I slowly remove my clothes. Shyly I enter the river in which a christening awaits me. Now we are all strangers. Suddenly the wind starts blowing forcefully. A branch is broken and falls onto the head of the person in front of me. The world quakes. They saved her in the end. Now we are all brothers. Why her? Why exactly then? Why not me? Why this christening? For the past few days, a river flows through my mouth. A Jordan of another world, the Prophet said to me. I believed him. A branch falls onto me. Nobody has to save me. I'm river.

Titela Durnea
In the mornings I used to fly out of my bed. There was honey tea. And semolina porridge with milk from which the panda bear smiled at me with eyes made of blackberries. Father's kiss drew butterflies on my mother's face. The strong shoulders carried me to the heavens while her gentle palm protected my back. There was the park, the swing that took me closer to the sun (from which I would always steal rays with father, to fill all the vases). It was Home. I don't know when or why the cold had come. It chased away butterflies, sun, teddy bear. I sit curled up under the duvet and I listen to the screams of the strangers from the other side of the door.

(Translated by Jessica-Polixenia-Cristiana Copilaș / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year II / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)