Adriana Patroi Miu
I didn't believe in war. It entered our home in the most intimate way. The only way. When I gave birth to him, I said: it's worth enduring the pains of childbirth so you can live free. In the name of freedom, they took him to the front and brought him back blind to our doorstep. The woman had grown gray, but she still had the strength to smile, like a dandelion sprout refusing to stay buried under the asphalt. I live for him, she whispered, struggling to find the slice of bread to dip in the soup. She didn't know that there was no one left in the room to hear her. She had given him her eyes.
Cristina Alistar-Gabouty
The guard came every evening with his rifle on his shoulder, patrolling back and forth as if we were at war. I'd ask him to play foot tennis with me. He'd comply, but he kept his rifle hanging by his side. It was really funny watching him jump around after the ball. He didn't want to fire it or show me how it worked, saying it was against the rules. Sometimes, he'd tell us he had seen flying saucers. Other times, he'd patrol perched on the wall, claiming to be Nadia Comăneci[1]. One day, Mom declared he was crazy, and we never played tennis again.
Monica Aldea
In the scattered villages at the foot of the mountain, the old order had long since fallen apart. The new world commanded the old one to forget its ways. The wizard who once protected them from wild beasts had been banished like a pariah. Hunted by his own people, he crossed another hill, descended another valley, hiding in caves. He hadn't been seen in the village, and the wolves often took their share, depleting the herds. On St. Andrew's Day, the beasts swarmed the settlement. The teacher's child had gone missing. After two days, he returned, holding the healer's hand. The little one had learned the path to the salvation of the grown-ups.
(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)
Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale.