It's not a baby? No, answered the doctor, then smiled. Sabrina raised her brows, three deep wrinkles forming between them. It's not? No. It happens naturally in perimenopause, you'll have to take some pills and then you'll forget about this in a few days, then come back for a check-up. I thought it was a baby, she mumbled. That's what happened to me when I had Tudor, I bled for days. You're fifty years old madam, what baby? You already have Tudor. Not anymore, she sighed. I gave birth to him prematurely. He didn't make it. I thought God was giving him back to me at the last minute.
Cecilia Fofiu
There's a hell of a commotion in the village centre at midday. Beau Bruise is vigorously whopping Greg Guzzler who's screaming his head off swearing, I didn't steal her, man, she came to me herself. An' I milked her because she was complaining of breast aches. Tell me, brother, do you swear it? asked Beau warily. I swear it brother, look, may God never let me have a woman if I'm lying. That doesn't count, and he gives him another hit. Greg, down for the count, desperately insists, I swear it on the last thimble[1] of vodka before the fast. Now we're talking, to hell with that meandering cow, let's go to the pub.
[1] Measure for spirits like vodka, gin. In Romanian, "suta de votcă".
Arthur Ianoși
It's raining outside and the pressure is high. It is even higher inside. You've never seen a more depressing room. He's sitting in the rocking chair, she's sitting on the edge of the bed, with mascara smudged on her cheekbones. The yawning canyons between the folds of the sheets heavily swallow all the iniquities of a relationship predestined to fail. The words have long since been hung from the light fixture; only a song on the radio still reminds them that the scars can be read between the lines. There is no more room for tears. She gets up and opens the window. They're on the ninth floor. He catches her at the last moment, by her ankle.
(Translated by Alina Bâznă / 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.