On the Scooter

Sara Ungureanu
The newspaper was delivered every morning by a gentleman on a scooter. Either rain, blizzard or scorching heat, the sound of the engine would undoubtedly wake him up. He read, solved the crosswords, then put it in the bathroom, behind the radiator, where dozens of other newspapers were covered in dust. He thought one day he would read them again. He didn't have television, only a radio which either worked or not. A few books occupied a shelf. The telephone was landline. On a Thursday the scooter didn't wake him up anymore. The newspaper was publishing  now exclusively online. Without internet access, he started reading again the old editions.  

Amalia Melnic
I go to the market. I fill in three shopping bags. Made of raffia. With fruits and vegetables. I request a Bolt ride. I wait. Vroom, vroom, vroom. I can hear from the right. The vehicle appears. A bicycle with a chainsaw attached. That's Bolt. Yes, he says. Come on. I hop on the saddle. I put the shopping bags. One on the right, two on the left. And off he goes the daredevil. At a road curve, he is this close to fly. I'm scared. After two blocks, he stops at a traffic stop light. We don't stay too long, he moves again. He has the guts to reach high speed. A voice of an old person screams from the back. Mademoiselle, mademoiselle. One of your quinces fell. 

Răzvan Dițescu
Have I told you how I spend my day lately? From the moment I open my eyes till I close them again? With my delivery bag on my back, on this Vespa, older than me. In the traffic all day long. The swarming mass of people you're complaining about is nothing compared to what's in our place. We only have a law. The law of the jungle. You are right when you say I am ill paid, that I am exploited and that I don't have a life. It is worth it, though. And please excuse me for sneaking through, but I am in a hurry. I am in a hurry to take my family out of the jungle.  

(Translated by Irina Vild / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year II / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)


Real Fiction is a collective project started in 2013 by Florin Piersic Jr. The concept of Real Fiction continued to exist as a Facebook group, after a volume of stories was published at Humanitas Publishing House. (In December 2024, the group has 13,540 members.) The authors write ultra-short stories, with the texts limited to 500 characters (in Romanian, so the length of the English translation might be a little different) - a flash-fiction exercise on a topic that changes every few days. The group's coordinators are Florin Piersic Jr., Gabriel Molnar, Răzvan Penescu, Luchian Abel, Monica Aldea, and Vlad Mușat. (Drawing by Adrian T. Roman)

Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale.