Jazz

Dana Popescu
Her rugged hands were gathering fluffy buds, but her mind was far away in the wonderful world where divine chords brought together masters and slaves alike. She was dancing bare-footed as she carried the bales to the amazement of the others who had never thought of looking up from the ground. When the number of those looking at the stars increased, the supervisors realized that they were dealing with a plague. Too late, however, as Tessa and her people knew now that no one could take away the music that took them to other worlds.
 
 Daniel Onofrei
Lonely people have secrets. After they go in and lock the door, no one can know what they're doing in there. Alone. They can walk around the house stark naked. They can eat being stark naked in the middle of the bed, leaving crumbs. They can watch porn and masturbate among the crumbs. They can put all kinds of things in all kinds of holes. They can take all kinds of things out of all kinds of holes. And after doing all that, they can light a cigar, pour themselves a bit of whiskey and listen to jazz.

Carmen Tot
When she bent down and dipped her fingers into the churning water, the man understood his impatience for what was to come. He stepped forward and looked at her thin, bare spine, arched brown under the moonlight and he felt the freedom throbbing between her ribs. He let himself be caught; he - a prehistorical animal covered in hard scales, she - throwing a snare around his neck. The first master. He smiled, stood up above the seacoast and let his thoughts dive into happiness. She was bathing out at sea. The night brought the whiff of oleanders. Tumult. Music to last.
 
(Translated by Ioana Bobeanu / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year I / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)