She had nothing provocative about her, and she wasn't very beautiful either, but she had that certain je ne sais quoi. It lingered in the curve of her neckline, in the sparkle of her gaze, and in the tremble of her lips. But he hadn't been able to stand up and pay her even a single compliment. He was a coward, and he repeated the word in his mind. Then he sensed her perfume in the air and froze. He got out of bed and stumbled over the empty wine bottle. Then he saw her bikini draped over the lamp, like a doily on a television. He opened the bathroom door. Written in crimson lipstick on the mirror were the words: You are a bull in bed.
Sorin Rizeanu
It's not a tragedy, the paediatrician told me. It's just his way of being, part of human neurodiversity; it's not a disease or a pathological condition. Don't try to cure him; try to understand him. On a path I hadn't planned, I cried at first. When I couldn't anticipate his movements, he erupted violently, destroying things. The nannies left, his father disappeared. Curled up in my arms, then on the computer all day, he didn't talk much. Hey, go outside for a bit. When he won an award in mathematics, he shyly told me, See, Mom, autism isn't a disability; it's an ability.
Răzvan Drăgoi
The first pseudoscientific congress, held under an oak tree near Prague, aimed to clarify, once and for all, the absolute truth. Since all religions had two parts-the Book and its interpretations-they chose the "boxing" path to truth, with the last one standing, deemed to be The Chosen One. It turned out to be a young shepherd, who was both illiterate and Slovak. The censorship committee, made up of priests, rabbis, and atheists, unanimously agreed with the decision. But each in their own way.
(Translated by Ioana Levîrdă / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year I / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)
Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale.