You'd say he's the grumpiest man in the world. That it was raining, that it was snowing, that a butterfly landed on your shoulder, that you were dancing in the rain with a stranger. Nothing seemed to impress him. On the contrary, he always commented. It sometimes made you feel small, small, even insignificant. Like a one hundred coin. But how many beautiful things I have experienced in this life driven by the desire to prove him wrong. Until one day when I found out he was on his deathbed and I gave that last coin on one last call. I'm glad you lived, he told me.
Dan Banu
I had to hurry. Things would soon change, and I, caught at the crossroads, had to choose one of them. I didn't eat anything for a while, I had to lose weight. Then I heard the creak. Our house went downhill towards the south end of the street. Mr Jinks' house went in the opposite direction. I ran and entered the mouse house at the last moment. The house slid under the pipes, under the pavement, under the ground. When he stopped and the door opened I saw Pixie and Dixie.
Ana Maria Dobre-Nir
She lived more and more noisily. She screamed often. I didn't understand her anger, but I didn't listen to her either. There were many like her. But where there are many, power does not always increase, because in our land, power increases when you are part of a brotherhood. A brotherhood of those who believe that the world belongs only to the strong. The rest, let each mind his own business. Their nothingness. They are the new saints, and not even God is associated with the saints, who, lately, looks in the mirror and is no longer found in any posture sketched by us.
(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.