As a child, on winter evenings, she was fascinated by the city lights seen from her bedroom window on the top floor of a ten-story building. She watched, intrusively, the stories of the shadows unfolding in the apartments across the street-the children who ran from the TV to their room when their father came home drunk and angry, the couple who argued every night, she slamming doors, collapsing into an armchair, sighing into a handkerchief, the pianist practicing his pieces by candlelight, the parents whose shadows merged into a prayer above the newly placed crib.
Monica Aldea
Dummy-the-Genius is in the grip of election fever. Just a few hours until voting begins, and the Mute Man has sworn to defend democracy at all costs, watching over the sleep of his fellow villagers and the collective good. After his final inspection of the ballot boxes, the mayor said to him, only those who've been through it understand. We're counting on you. On the building, the Mute Man's shadow looms like a benevolent rural spirit. Blinded by a beam of light, the valiant hero wavers. Relax, I was just joking, says Leana, steadying him so he doesn't fall. Dad sent me with the flashlights. Got them from the Russian market.
Paul Dârvariu
Once upon a time, there was an emperor who had three daughters. He wanted to know to whom he should leave his kingdom when his time came. So, he decided to put them to the test. What the eldest daughter, Shadow, and the middle one, Light, had said-you already know from the previous tale. The youngest, Love, said: Dear Father, love will be the one to save the world, so please choose me. The emperor considered their answers and decided: Since women have no place in politics, I shall take a blue pill and do my best to have a son.
(Translated by Ioana Levîrdă / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year I / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)
Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale.