With Short Pants

Teodora Ștefănescu
Come on, we're walking Mom and Dad. Grandma seems rushed. Her hands and voice tremble. She's dressed in black, but she's always dressed like that. Lots of flowers. I think it's a wedding. Dad is marrying Mom. I can't see them. Of course, Mom is getting ready and Dad is busy. Grandma brings me a new dress. With a white lace collar. But I want to wear pants. My new, short, pink pants. And my crown of pink and white roses. I won't go any other way. Grandma wipes her glasses and we set off. A flower carriage for the bride and the groom, wedding guests in black, and me in pink.

Dana Popescu
Wearing short pants that were way too short, tied with a string, he spun the steering wheel of an imaginary car, always a different one, on the street of my childhood. Without a trace of malice, the children would ask him: Which car are you driving today, Nelu, the Mercedes or the BMW? He would smile and rev up the engine in response, then take a few more laps with the car in his head, another one, not the one that had almost killed him when he was little. Years flew by, and I pass by to see my little dream vacation house again, now my grandparents are angels. Are you sad? Do you want me to take you for a ride with the car?

Caterina Tudorache
I've taught my kids to be careful on the street. Eyes on the road, not on their phones. The policeman took out his notebook. Ma'am, it seems we're lucky. The boy is the only witness. I'll ask him a few questions. So, was he tall or short? So-and-so. Chubby or skinny? So-and-so. What was he wearing? Clothes. The policeman puffed. What color? I think blue. Mom looked proudly at her vigilant child. The policeman, for some reason, seemed angry. Can you provide any useful details for the investigation? Yes, he was wearing short pants. Can you describe them? With pockets.

(Translated by Laura-Monica Doroiman / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year I / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)


Real Fiction is a collective project started in 2013 by Florin Piersic Jr. The concept of Real Fiction continued to exist as a Facebook group, after a volume of stories was published at Humanitas Publishing House. (In October 2024, the group has 13,400 members.) The authors write ultra-short stories, with the texts limited to 500 characters (in Romanian, so the length of the English translation might be a little different) - a flash-fiction exercise on a topic that changes every few days. The group's coordinators are Florin Piersic Jr., Gabriel Molnar, Răzvan Penescu, Luchian Abel, Monica Aldea, and Vlad Mușat. (Drawing by Adrian T. Roman)

Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale.