The year when we met the cherry trees started to blossom into blackbirds. Day and night, we could hear the buds pop, then there was a brief moment of silence, like the hold of a breath in amazement, then the cherry flowers started to sing. The song fell in order like a bunch of piano tiles. There were other miracles as well, but the biggest one was the one involving the sun. the one we knew started to fade and shrunk into the size of a moon, the moon into the size of a dumpling, while the new sun followed you around and shone brighter every time you smiled to me.
Ramona Ungureanu
When it rains, my nose is always stuffy, my hair is a mess, I used to say this pathetic excuse that I was going to move somewhere where it doesn't rain because I'm not made out of other, my cells feed off of the sun. Okay, he said confidently, with his squinted eyes, let me handle this, took a sip from his coffee and briefly moved his hand in the air. Done. After I walked through ever puddle, giggling, we searched for the clear sky together for a few years. My nose was stuffier, my hair and soul slouchy. He was fine with cloudy.
Siranuș Hakobian
You were laying on the sand, and I think that you were squinting because of the sun, but then I thought that you were winking at me and, like a gracious mermaid, I dived into the waves. The sea was a bit rough, so was I, but I swam like an unsettled dolphin, from one float to another. It was weird, because I didn't know how to swim. But you see, you had winked at me and suddenly I was a fabulous swimmer. Then, when I realised that I wasn't the reason why you were winking, but because of the sun, I was about to drown. I knew how to stay afloat though.
(Translated by Cristina-Paula Grosu / 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.