She worked from dusk till down. From now on, the babies were washed, put to bed, the yard clean, the animals took care of. And her Iorgu appeared at the end of the street stumbling, reeking of toil and jinnarz, cursed man, angel and devil alike. Iustina wiped her tear with her hand, then quickly slammed the polenta with garlic sauce on the table and worshiped the Icon of the Mother of God, which also was crying hanged in the porch. This pita was given to her to drink when she asked. I saw that it had rained a lot and it got moldy.
Marilena Demian
Forty-three years he worked continuously in the bakery. He started as a shop boy, carrying sacks of flour, sweeping the floor and taking out the trash. Then he became an apprentice. Much later, when he bought the bakery, he knew that his workday would continue to start at three in the morning. Otherwise you can't put the warm bread on the shelf for the first customer. On the day he sold it all, he swore to himself that, as long as he lived, he would never touch flour again. He kept his oath until the first grandson uttered the word bread.
Alina Ilie
He always watched them from the corner with the red geranium as they all sat down during the meal break and shared what everyone brought. Sometimes they had a rich meal, but most of the time, their food was barely enough, maybe only enough for everyone to taste everything. Girls, but why doesn't he eat with us? It is said that his dad is a foreman at Film Mounting. That's why he has his little sandwich every day, he has money for salami. That day he had left the little lunch by the flower and gone to the Personnel, and they had time to check the slices of bread which had nothing between them.
(Translated by Ioana Andreea Radu / 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.