Papa's palm reminded her she had to love the woman who took her mother's place. She hated her. She hated Rudi too, her step-brother, until his mother died too, then her heart started to burn whenever she saw him. They kept their affair secret from Papa. That day it was burning outside and the oldman was drunk. They went for a swim. In heat, they started playing with each other. The gunshot spread like an echo, Rudi gave his last breath in front of her, Papa shot the second bullet through his mouth, and she, during the hot nights, screams her qualm away: ouchhh.
July, 42 degrees in the shade. It was so hot that the soles of my Lacoste shoes stuck to the scorching asphalt, and the crocodile logo stuck its tongue out from thirst. I wave down a taxi, it stops, I go to get in, but my shoes won't move. Screw this, I say. Might as well take them off and leave them there. I throw myself onto the back seat and greet the AC like I'd just won the lottery. I see her. Brunette, green eyes, a generous neckline. I'm sweating like it's the floods of 2006. I go to ask something. She covers my mouth. Shh. Sex? she says. Male, I reply.
Adina Drag
On the final day, when the sun rose stronger than ever before, I too awoke from my dream. The earth had cracked above me and was flowing inside me like sand in an hourglass. I swallowed it and made myself a new body from it. A heart was beating in me once again. I don't even know how I ended up in the neighbourhood that shaped me into the person I became. I looked at the window for my mother, but the sun had swallowed her. I had an insatiable thirst for life and a longing that screamed inside me. Nobody anywhere. Not a single soul. Too much heat had people already forgetting about summer.
(Translated by Laurențiu-Gabriel Niculae / 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.