What could I possibly understand back then, my mother tells me. The house was full of girls, we were raising each other. One night, she disappeared. Few days later, a man in a long sleeve jacket knocked on the door. He rummaged through the bathroom and took some knitting needles with him. When she returned, white as a ghost, I heard her talking with dad. Talking about how she scratched the headboard in pain, how they asked her questions endlessly while they were making her push, how they shoved it under her nose before throwing it in the bin. They noted in the register: product of male conception.
Monica Bologa
He has been at our place for three hours and I couldn't stop listening to him talking about the big city and the good life he was living. When I grow up, I want to be like him. I'm sick of milking the cows or taking a shit in the backyard toilet. At night, I heard him talking with my mom in the kitchen. He was saying how he lost everything: his home, his car, his wife. He was crying. After two days, I walked him to the train station. Before embarking, I handed him a package. It was my metal toy car and a note: Until you buy a new one, enjoy mine.
Mădălina Angelescu
I've started seeing him more often at our house. He was always showing up on Sundays. My mother would put up something for dinner and something on herself, after that we were all gathering in the living room to eat. Only dad was missing. I never understood why he was working on Sundays. Party meetings, he used to say. He was leaving the house while putting on his hat. So many Sundays passed by, until one day, uncle Vasi moved in the big bedroom. Put his clothes in the closet and his books on the bedside. That was the day dad left with a suitcase. We stared closely from the window.
(Translated by Constantin Grigorescu / 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.