In the evenings I moaned, make my bed on the little bench between the four-paned windows. You're so big, you can't fit, granny would grumble tiredly. She would still do my bidding while I hopped and scared the cats in the chimney under the stove that spit ashy-smothered coals. She prayed with a rosary, unfurled her braid curled around a small spindle, blew on the lamp and climbed on the high bed, moaning softly. I used to bet her that in my dreams I would see fairies at the window and they would carry me flying into worlds unseen. Yesterday they took granny away. And we didn't bet on that.
Arthur Ianoși
He filed for assisted dying two weeks ago. The fact that he'd refused to be committed to a nursing home with trained hospice staff probably didn't put him at the top of the list. Eighty years was enough, he'd seen too much. Far too much. When he saw the envelope slipped under the door, he got a little scared. He lived alone, who could be in his bathroom? He opened the door, but the bathroom was empty. He began to played with a metal pen, just like a slot lever, to allay his fear and bent down to pick up the envelope. He dropped to the floor. It was time.
Elena Fermuș
I didn't say it, that if you're unlucky in love, you're lucky in money, I just wanted to test it, and I tested it at the slots. At first I came out with a profit, then something was bringing bad luck, I kept losing. Maybe it was the eyes of the man at the corner table that wouldn't leave me. One day he asked me to be a surrogate mother for his baby, his wife had medical issues, but no demands after that, the baby would be mine for only nine months. I finally accepted, not for the money, and after nine months I was going to be forever missing them.
(Translated by Corina-Alexandra Belu / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year II / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)
Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale.