On the Crosswalk

Gheorghiță Mircea
The street was empty. The few lights on it were reflected by puddles as if they were the eyes of dead fish. When he was about to cross, he heard a crackly voice behind him. Don't pass through here. You will die. He turned around. A tall hag in a black coat that reached the ground. What? The crosswalk isn't here. Stupid old hag, he thought. There's not a single soul on the street. By the moment he lighted a cigarette, the old bat had disappeared. He took a deep breath of smoke and walked two steps. A convertible Ford crashed into him and flung him swirling on the back seat. I told, the old hag laughed behind the wheel.
 
 Arthur Ianoși
Don't tell mom, Ian rumbled while checking his trading platform. As he wouldn't stop talking, the driver punched him back to his seat, hurrying towards the Karolinska Hospital. Ian woke up in the ICU, surrounded by a pack of doctors, all of them perplexed by the Volvo emblem scribbled on his abs. They took him by surprise. What's the capital of Finland? Stockholm, undoubtedly. It's obvious, you have the syndrome of the city where you were born. Let's get this party started, we'll cut him across the skull. Let's goooooo.

Adriana Patroi Miu
I was a little student from outside the city. I didn't know much. When my classmate suggested going by bus on the Museum Night, I got very excited. The soaking rain only made things more exciting. That until I started feeling my legs being soaked and my hands frozen. By morning I couldn't feel anything anymore. When I was about to catch the last night bus I saw the young seminary teacher's car coming, the one who has GEO on his car plate. I was dumbfounded on the crosswalk. I still have a tendency to spit out the dirt between my teeth when I remember.

(Translated by Laurențiu-Gabriel Niculae / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year II / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)