Who Put the Tavern on the Road

Aurelian Țolescu
It wasn't a tavern, but the Grocery Store. In that little town, back when you couldn't find anything to drink except Sparkling Wine, the shop was packed with every drink you cold imagine. As students on internship, we were beyond thrilled with the excellent range, especially since, on our way back from the factory, we'd go straight from the bus stop into the shop, and the nights would end at hours just as early as the ones we woke up at. The greatest delight was that, while the local men staggered from fence to fence, the beautiful local women hunted us down in groups of four.

Dana Mihaela Dragnea
 I'll make you some polenta, since I see that man hasn't brought the bread yet. Oh, God. Play a little more until it's ready. Okay, Granny. But we quickly snuck out towards the shop, after Grandpa. It was quite a walk. We found him fallen again, by the stream. He was asleep, reeking. Grandpa, let's go home. I'm coming, let me kiss you, little ones, he mumbled, dazed, pretending to be awake. I was looking for two good hazel sticks, so I could make you fishing rods; and I think I tripped in the bushes. We'll be going in a moment. But help me up, will you? Grandpa was still grandpa, even in the ditch. And he had bought the bread.

Andra Toropoc
Sometimes a man comes to visit us, and Mom is cheerful, making delicious food while I eat outside as they stay in the house. Today I'm alone, playing in the yard, pretending to cook. I don't have any toys, so I place some little pots on the ground and stir leaves in water. I'm hungry, but Mom has been gone to the village since morning. When she shows up at the gate, her hair is messy and her face is red. She stumbles over the pots and gets angry, You're driving me crazy, what's all this mess doing here? She kicks them aside and staggers toward the house. I go inside too, and she's already asleep. I cover her with a blanket and curl up next to her. I'm hungry.

(Translated by Larisa Marta Mreană / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year I / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)


Real Fiction is a collective project started in 2013 by Florin Piersic Jr. The concept of Real Fiction continued to exist as a Facebook group, after a volume of stories was published at Humanitas Publishing House. (In July 2024, the group has 13,200 members.) The authors write ultra-short stories, with the texts limited to 500 characters (in Romanian, so the length of the English translation might be a little different) - a flash-fiction exercise on a topic that changes every few days. The group's coordinators are Florin Piersic Jr., Gabriel Molnar, Răzvan Penescu, Luchian Abel, Monica Aldea, and Vlad Mușat. (Drawing by Adrian T. Roman)

Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale.