Overpopulation

Dan Banu
He never imagined it would be so crowded. A group had gathered at the front and they were throwing themselves into the void, while more of them came ceaselessly from behind. The girl had seemed like a composed individual and he hadn't expected her to lose herself so completely. But Mărgăritar knew that when it comes to feelings, composure is blown away like dandelion puff. So he pulled himself away from the stream of tears rolling down her cheeks, left the Vale of Tears, climbed the Ridge of the Nose and stopped at its peak, waiting to dry up with longing.

Camil Popescu
Vama[1] isn't what it used to be. I've never been there, I don't know what it was like before it stopped being what it used to be, but I don't regret not going when it was what it was or after it no longer was what it used to be. So I don't know the difference between how it was like back when it was what it was and the time when it no longer was like in the old days and maybe even those who went there, back when it was what is was, before it no longer was what it used to be, are no longer the same as they were before Vama Veche became something other than what they wanted it to be. I used to go somewhere else, where there was no room to swing a cat. To Costinești.
Andra Toropoc
I've always dreamed of playing the lead role in Gone with the Wind. They're doing a remake and my green eyes qualify me, since I have no talent. I go to the casting and I see a line of women waiting to audition for my role. Really? These women are jeopardizing the chance of my name appearing on the big screen? My indignation gives me an idea and I start shaking the door and shouting: earthquake, earthquake! The bimbos run for the hills and I'm the only one left, full of poise. No one looks at my face, they're fixated on my revealing neckline. They're delighted. Yes, we've found our Mammy.

(Translated by Bogdan Nicola / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year II / 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.