The goodies in the display case make me salivate. Once I get my pay check, I'll buy everything I crave, but for now, I can only afford ten slices of baloney; the rest of the money needs to go towards my electricity bill, I told to myself. At some point, I catch a familiar scent. Behind me in line is my ex-husband with his current girlfriend. We exchange greetings, and that's all. When my turn comes, I ask the saleswoman for Prague ham, Sibiu salami, turkey roll, and chicken sausages. Never mind, I'll pay the electricity bill next month. After me, he asks briefly: ten slices of baloney.
Ioana Epure
I am the happiest woman alive, I am not gaining weight. In the summer of '95, I was coming back home from a course with my colleague Ion, a very smart man, a bit fat. I chose surface public transportation. We get off the 336 bus at Rosetti station. Ion, I'm going to run to the corner store. I return, the 311 bus is at the station, Battle of Rovine, a little joke. Crushed from all sides, Ion in front of me, the bag between us, right at nose level. With tears in his eyes, Ion whispers, Give me a slice, too. What? Here? I can't. See, that's why you're skinny, because you're mean and spiteful.
Alex Caragian
The sky was dark. Clouds resembling coffins descended; it was as if you weren't looking upward, but toward the edge of the earth from the depths of the grave. The man wondered whether he had fulfilled his quest in this world. He was prepared, however, even if the opposite were true, just as he was ready to meet the one who could show it to him. In defiance, without haste, he took one last bite as if the ground beneath his feet wasn't slipping away, taking the sky and everything attached to it along with it.
(Translated by Alexandra-Ecaterina Sandu / 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.