Overpopulation

Răzvan Dițescu
I move from place to place. This way, the police won't harass me anymore. At five o'clock I arrive at St. Paul's. People are more generous near cathedrals. A penny given to a beggar, washes away one's sins, that's what they believe. The crowd is growing. The white collars are escaping from the City. There are more and more of them, and less and less resources. Hasty steps, absent glances, lost in their thoughts. I notice him. The gentleman with a subtle scent of tobacco and old whiskey is approaching me. He hands me a 10 pounds note. He has sinned a lot today, too.
 
 Rozalia Cristea
I pulled the drawer open. There were many of them per square centimetre. I wanted to count them. They were for delivery, but they were crawling in all directions. They appear, they grow, they multiply. I don't know what they live on or what they eat, since I don't have food for myself either. I think they are eating from the neighbours. But it's a new business, good and trendy. I offer Blatta orientalis in exchange for flour. They are free of additives and preservatives. How could I preserve them when I can't even catch them. I posted the offer on the auction website, I am selling raw material in exchange for flour, with the mention: you buy as many cockroaches as you catch. I also send an online invoice.

Anca Socaciu-Man
What is compassion, the judge asked. A deep crease of bewilderment made him smirk subtly, staring off into the distance, his mind in blackout. The images of the traumas suffered by a frail little boy, who seemed to be really him, made him flinch, and his upper lip began to visibly tremble. Repeat. What is compassion? Thousands of sheep are gassed, thrown into mass graves, and those that don't die are buried alive. This means they no longer suffer, a better world for everyone. Equality and cabbage rolls.


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