I might not be a young in' anymore, but I have long legs, iron thighs, and a stone ass. He's mine, I told myself as I saw him in a tight black suit atop his scooter. I walked slower, sucked my gut in, and, with my nose held high, pushed my chest forward. The scooter ran a lap around me and its precious contents put his foot on the ground. I smiled, and I think he smiled back underneath the helmet. He came closer to me. The air was full of pheromones. Then with a gesture of absolute sensuality, stole the purse off my shoulder.
Silvia Ștefan
She realized he patronized her. That hurt more than the cigarette put out on her thigh the other day. She climbed up the hill to watch the sunset one last time. The bloodied sky foretold the passing. She undid the pearl necklace she received on their anniversary and replaced it with the thick rope. The oak branch will be holding her. She was light. In thoughts, sins, sense. The tips of her toes were against the scooter on which he stole her from her parents on their first night together. She saw him running towards her, panting. She couldn't hear him. She jumped and ended the pain.
Laura Stanciu
Andrei turned 16 two months ago. His parents wanted to send him to Medical school. They calculated how much his tutoring would cost them until the entrance exam and found some part-time collaborations. They run from one job to the other, they work Saturdays too, but their hearts are at peace, for they will have a doctor in the family. Andrei, too, calculated how much a second-hand scooter would be, and how much driving school for the AM license would be, so he skipped some tutoring sessions and put money aside. He keeps it in grandpa's garage.
(Translated by Adriana-Maria Botea / 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.