Six large bread rolls, five with a hole inside. Two small loaves: one big, one small. One liter of wine, candles, towels, and alms for everyone, all displayed on the priest's table, as Christian tradition requires. On either side of the coffin, in which the mayor is laid, a golden, lit candlestick, and rows of benches aligned, where the mourners sit. And behind them, hidden behind wreaths, two slot machines brought from Germany by a friend of the deceased, for when the priest opens a tavern in the village.
Carmen-Ecaterina Ciobâcă
I'm with Sașa, my childhood friend. I used to watch his back in the prison showers. Ever since they released us, it feels like something's gone wrong. One, two, three, and... We press the buttons at the same time and laugh like lunatics. Boom, boom, boom. We don't always get lucky, and thus, we get even more determined. Boom, boom, boom, on a cue. Seven, seven, seven. Hip, hip, hooray. We high-five and load the ammo. One, two, three, and... The devils behind laugh with us. Boom, boom, boom. Sașa? He's silent, sprawled on his side. I drag him before me as if he were a shield. I keep on pulling and start crying.
Horațiu Dudău
The first morning at the seaside. Joy fills me. I've been waiting for this trip for a long time, with my best friend. Hopes for two weeks. A surge of serenity overcomes me. I hear only the bones creaking inside the laziness of a body switched on vacation mode after a tough exam session. I look at his bed and see that it's empty. Hm. Strange.The wallet. But just then, he walks inside. He scratches his forehead and tells me I might not have my breakfast. At least we have enough for the ticket nazi. Well, I spent those at the Brașov train station. We have 400 kilometres to go.
(Translated by Bogdan Macarie / 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.