He briskly climbs the 12 steps of the casino. The roulette wheel had just stopped on black 7 when the green-eyed brunette with cleavage down to her navel slipped a hotel room card into his palm. He turned away. The door was unlocked. He stepped in slowly, but couldn't bar the fist that dug into his chin. He leaned down and grabbed the assailant by the waist, the assailant hit him with a karate chop to the back, they fell to the carpet, the blows followed one after the other in violent succession, the agent straddled the assailant and whispered: Igor, UNCLE salutes you. Take out the stick.
Vero Anttheia Teodoru
He had a new Dacie car and a Mobra motorcycle. I would have given anything to get into the car or on the moped just once. The dream came true, but it became a nightmare. My leg hooked on the spokes, the sharp pain making me scream out loud. My parents were scared to death. In time I understood from stories that he was some kind of family co-captor. My father was afraid of him, but when I closed my eyes I felt so strong I thought I could kick his ass. Other times I was at the opposite pole with my heart between rusty, cold bars.
Florentina Ghițescu
He's my father's younger brother. 10 years between them and another brother and sister. He had come to stay with us, with his older brother who had made it in the big city. I was 4-5 years old at the time. He was helping my mother with us. He used to get me out of the bathtub by my head to grow tall. I didn't grow tall, but I had a long neck. He made us eat dill omelets one day and because I refused, she took me out to the stairwell to cry my eyes out. Those are good memories, don't think of me as traumatized. I couldn't have had a better uncle.
(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.