A New Hope

Caterina Tudorache
The doctor frowned. Something should have shown up by now. I'll reschedule you for Thursday. The woman sighed. The man next to her took her hand. With tears in her eyes, she stared at the monitor. I don't feel anything. It's not there. I know. Lord, I've been begging you for years to help us. Stooped over, the two of them left the clinic and sat on a bench. What else can we do? A small, black furball rubbed against the woman's leg. She absent-mindedly petted it, out of instinct. The kitten climbed into her lap and nestled into her purse. The two of them laughed with their eyes turned up to the sky. Thy will be done, Lord.
 
 Nicolae Popescu
Ilie shyly walked into the office: Mayor, Aunt Floarea is gone. Mayor Petre slammed his palm on the table: How can she just croak now, after she just got her kilo of rice? Ugh, what a total lack of respect. He looked at the board where some names were scrawled in chalk. Look, we had one vote over those opposition guys. My villa in Videle is going to hell; I just needed one more term. Ilie, hurry up, grab the old lady's shawl, find the ID, and vote first thing in the morning, in the dark. And we'll call it dead on Monday. Mr. Mayor, you know, I... Not a word, Ilie, you still want that acre of forest, don't you?

Monica Bologa
I had the first hope when I was about four years old, sitting by the window watching Ana play in front of the apartment building with a red ball covered in white dots. I didn't have a ball. Then, in the middle of summer, every night I prayed to God that Santa Claus would bring me a bike for Christmas. Apparently, my prayer got lost somewhere among the stars. Years later, I became a company director, made a lot of money, and fulfilled all my wishes. There's still one thing I really want: love. I think I'm going to buy myself a ball tomorrow.

(Translated by Eduard Mihai Uretu / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year I / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)