For a while he had the feeling that he was being followed. Then he calmed down on his own. Whoever minded a homeless tramp, so poor that even his own guts would have left him for a bowl of hot soup. He drifted to sleep curled up on a bench, under a lime tree, and he woke up in an unknown place, surrounded by people in white garments. The recovery took a few days, hooked up to machines, with an almost unbearable pain that pierced through his abdomen and back. On the news, it was reported that they had found a donor and the the famous businessman had successfully uundergone the kidney transplant.
Ramona Ungureanu
She was leaning on one elbow against the kitchen counter, her flowery robe had lifted a bit on the right side and a curler was hanging wearily, having come undone in apathy. Because, you see, in the blink of an eye, Superman would jump into that costume of his and save people either from fires or from ruins. Spare me, woman, he too was no more than a man in an alien's skin, but I'm just a man, take out that trash, fix that, replace that lightbulb, do you think all that is nothing? Give me that mop already, bring me a beer and let me straighten up that robe of yours because it's not hanging right.
Alex Caragian
Whenever I come in, everybody cries: Oh great, just who we needed. I get out of the shower and there's a voice coming from the mirror saying: it's just right. When God created the world, he cut the shape of me out of it so that wherever I go, I fit right in. The puzzle man, with the character of a Tetris game and the physique of a Lego brick. If you feel there's a hole within, that's because you're missing yourself. I can fill that hole for you no problem. Especially if you're a woman. But if you're a man, that hole you're feeling is from hunger and lack of beer, acute lack of beer. I put myself in you. I'm the man you need whenever you feel like having needs.
(Translated by Diana Gabriela Radu / 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.