Gramps, are the polar bears far away? Aren't they cold in the winter? If they don't have heaters, why don't they take the bus and come to us? See, if we look at the maps, they are only two palms away. It's not even that far. Are they after dad's factory? The old man smiled. Well I think it's pretty far away. Look, you can't see the factory here. It's tiny tiny and the Earth is huge. The bears are very comfortable up there. They keep the map in balance. The child climbed in his grandpa's lap. That means that one of them fell through the crack. What if it's under my bed?
Carmen-Ecaterina Ciobâcă
it is written on the board. I cross the border and I end up in an obscure country in the east. In this country, at the edge of a town, there is barbed wire. Behind the wire there is a gloomy building. There, in an endless parlour plunged in darkness and stench, there is a swarming of abandoned children. They were whimpering, rocking back and forth, ripping out their hair and hitting themselves over the head. There's a baby in a crib. I take him in my arms, get out of the building, past the fence, I get on the plane and get on the other side. Take me instead, take me instead, I keep hearing.
Paul Dârvariu
Everything began when uncle Trică broke his jug of brandy. He licked off the shards the last drops of it then he put the noose around his neck. After a month, his drinking buddy, Fănel, followed in his steps. From then on the suicides were constantly happening: miss Saveta after her husband scolded her because she over-seasoned the stew, Georgică, after losing the money he earned in Spain at the slots, uncle Iulică, angry that Mr. Vadim did not become president. I'm worried. The epidemic is spreading to the centre of the town, it's just 3 kilometres away.
(Translated by Ioana Levîrdă / 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.