He looked in a Venetian mirror. His black hair draped his back. He had given up his sword and the armour with a dragon on it for hundreds of years. Now he wore a light tweed suit, premium cotton shirt and a Teilor locket. The horse had been replaced by horsepower and the job didn't have any connection to the noble title. Only one thing was unchanged. The dentition. That is why he loved Petra dearly, his dentist who filed his canines with tenderness. And who knew the best places in town where you could eat an excelent steak.
Roxana Catană Tarhon
I am so happy that, finally, after 5 girls we're gonna have a boy too. I want to name him Vlad, like our righteous reigning lord, he said proudly. You? (he asked out of politeness; it was not as if he had any interest in her opinion). I grew fond of the name Dragu[1], she said timidly. We cannot baptize him Vlad Dragu[2]; you understand how he will be called at school by the other kids. If we move to Bran, we finish him off completely. What would you say about moving to England? There no one has heard of this Romanian folktale.
[1] Romanian name whose meaning can be translated in English as "The dear one", but can be mispronounced as Dracu, which means "the devil"
[2] Dragu is a Romanian name whose meaning can be translated in English as "The dear one", but can be mispronounced as Dracu, which means "the devil", which in this case is a reference to Vlad Dracula
Titela Durnea
In the morning, she would encourage herself that she's all right. She looked at the empty place next to her. She would make for him scraps with fried eggs or a sandwich. They left together but returned one after the other. He sometimes with bite marks on his neck. She always with a broken heart. They slept in the same bed but were in different worlds. The next day they would start all over again. He by mimicking normalcy, she serenity. Her mother told her that love with tears was not love. When Doru from the seventh floor brought her flowers, she smiled. Now, two people with passionately bitten necks, share the same bed. And the same world.
(Translated by Ana Maria Mitruș / 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.