It was past midnight. The clusters of people who had taken the light and were heading home had thinned out, until only a few solitary candles were still holding out a flame, trembling its way from the church to who knows where, fading into the night. He had watched the light show from above, where the two worlds cross. He had made a habit out of watching the people after the Resurrection, brimming with hope. He saw through their masks, he saw souls, thoughts, feelings. He smiled bitterly. They were not yet ready to receive Him.
Ana-Maria Butuza
It rained the whole night, when morning came around it froze over and, when we left the Hall to head to college, it was snowing. Big snowflakes, like butterflies. We didn't take the bus, it was too beautiful. We walked by the Botanical Garden. The sidewalk was a sleigh road. We hadn't laughed like that in a long time. When we reached the city, at the crossing, the light had to turn green. He fell first, we fell one after the other, into a contagious laughter. The cars honked, we laughed, got up, then fell again. From a car with a license plate from Iași a gentleman called: Let them be, they are young.
Alex Caragian
After I had crossed the second white stripe, I saw her. It smelled of fresh lime because they had just painted, and I offered her a beer right there, on the street. We both had green light on our shoulders and were stepping down from nearby curbs. Around the third stripe, I asked her if I could take her somewhere, and she said only if I was heading toward the opposite traffic light. I said yes, but people were coming from the opposite direction, and I didn't even hear what I said. I don't even know when, amidst laughter and tears, crossing wore us out, and a ticking sound indicated the red light.
(Translated by Ioana Grințescu / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year II / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)
Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale.