It is said that a star falls every time a wish comes true. When Mărin married Rădina, the most beautiful girl in the village, a star fell. Then Iliuță was born and another star fell. Stars were falling one after another. They had nine children, all proud and God-fearing. He smiled, remembering how he sometimes mixed up their names. This was a long time ago. In the meantime, the order of things had changed, the children had gone to the city, Rădina had died and Mărin would spend the nights at peace, waiting for another star to fall. The last one.
Arthur Ianoși
Two bored angels, seemingly they hadn't had any toys when they were kids, just as the Sun was hiding behind the black velvet skirts of the Moon, they began to slingshot stars, throwing them at each other, pulling the stars by their tails. They were giggling for fear the Bearded Man would hear them, because the last people who dared disturb his sleep had been thrown down on Earth without the possibility of coming back. The scent of their fall could still be sensed, so they avoided the named stars and settled for the nameless ones.
Daniel Popa
I wasn't on any list because the state expected me to come back after 7 years, not 6. Besides, all the spots were taken. The teacher still welcomed me into her class. She smiled at me and promised that everything would be alright. It was. She made me love school. And I made her love me more than her own son, who was my classmate. He would get a 10 in Math and she would give me a 10+. For my unique problem-solving methods. In the third grade, I would compete in the Olympiads with the ones in the fourth grade. Man, what was her name?
(Translated by Cristina-Andreea Dobre / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year II / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)
Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale.