The neighbour always ruins our day. When he caught the ball, he'd kick it ten minutes away. One day we filled it with stones and put it near his gate. It came out. He saw it. Mister, can you give us the ball? He made a spectacle of himself, took a few steps sideways, like Ronaldo, got a little bit of momentum and, well, when he stuck his spike in that plastic filled with stones, we covered our faces in pain. When he started howling like a cartoon wolf, we jumped up as if after a Champions League goal.
Aurelian Țolescu
Parents didn't trust me. Even though I was a good high schooler, in the first third, I was wild, had lots of friends, partied a lot, ran off to music festivals and they failed to see the positive things. In '86 I passed my baccalaureate with exceptional results and got into a top university. One Sunday, my dad invited me to hang out for a beer somewhere in town. He congratulated me on my achievements and smiling warmly, telling me I didn't have to hide anymore. You can smoke in front of me, you're in a different league now.
Ana-Maria Butuza
In the schoolyard, they surround me like little chickens with yellow down. They push, to get closer to me, to touch me, they let themselves be caressed, they talk loudly and laugh contagious, with their mouths up to their ears. They're as dear to me as mine was when he was little, and every time I see him in their eyes. They tell me all at once, one over the other, what they did on their big holiday, how it was at the bike competition where they took first place and they take out of a bag the cup which they happily raise to the sun: we are champions, teacher.
(Translated by Iulia-Mihaela Țugulea / 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.