A flood of worries engulfed her the first time. How would she manage? Could she do it? Would she know how? Could she face the hardships alone? How much would she understand of those mysteries? Yet she gently emerged from the murky waters of the beginning. The strength of youth compensates for knowledge and courage alike. The second time, eons later, motherhood sent her down more familiar paths. She no longer took two of everything she thought necessary, nor did she unnecessarily alarm her relatives. Instead of a large, spacious ark, she settled for something smaller: compact, with a reversible handle and a bassinet.
Cristian Nedelcu
One day, it started to rain, but it didn't seem like ordinary rain. At first, empty words dripped down. People opened their mouths wide, greedy to gulp down as many as they could. Then curses started to fall from the sky. More and more people stepped into the rain, mouths agape. After a while, nonsense replaced curses, then lies took their place. Wherever you looked you could see bystanders, as if they couldn't get enough. Strangely, when it started to rain love, as if on cue, they all hurried to find shelter.
Lucian Pătru
Noah, in his underwear, stretches lazily. Somehow he felt as if he were building an ark. Gathering animals in pairs. With scales, fur, and prickly ears. With spikes, wings, pouches and antennae. With manes, tentacles, plates and feathers. He looked up, but there was no sign of storms. What unheard of seas? What did God say? Ah, nonsense. What do I have to do with these beasts? What is it that I've done? Just prayers. And now, in old age, do I still have the strength to obey His will, to row? The way the weather looks, come what may, I'll return to bed and sleep.
(Translated by Maria Loredana Constantin / 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.