Clean Air

Daniela Rusu
His face was swollen from lack of sleep. He woke up at 4, put on the first clothes that came to hand, one sleeve, one pant leg, hanging lazily, gulped down a slice of bread, then headed out to the station. He felt relieved when he escaped the smell of body odor in the tram, and on his way to the office building, where he cleaned the restrooms, he made a new move. He took a different path. And somewhere on the right, he saw her. She had full lips, curls, and a cocktail dress. He went into the store, grabbed the mannequin, slammed it to the ground, and then continued on his way.
 
 Ramona Ungureanu
Yes, peace and quiet, just the way I like it. I go out in the evening and talk to the wild boars that come for the corn from the neighbor's field. And do they respond? Of course, grunting, Groh, groh, what's up, honey? Once, they responded from very close. Oh my, I grabbed that lantern that shines far and pointed it toward the forest. Under my apple trees, what a sight!In the round beam of light, like on a stage, there were about twenty of them. Some, with little bibs, were eating apples. Others, in can-can dresses, were dancing like at the Moulin Rouge. Seriously?

Monica Bologa
I want us to break up, he told me, just like that. I met a spontaneous woman, she likes to make love, she doesn't mind that I smoke, that I drink, or that I have a belly. OK, now excuse me for a moment, I need some air. I walk out the door, run down the street with my eyes on the mountain, I'm going to get there, I need to breathe, I'm suffocating. A car hits me full force, and I wake up from the dream in bed next to him, and I start obsessively kissing his belly. I told him I wanted us to make love and then drink a bottle of wine. He jumped out of bed and started running toward the mountain.

(Translated by Claudia Garofina Greculeac / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year I / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)