Mihai used to have all sorts of cool ideas, and I would follow him immediately. Evenings were the most beautiful. We used to climb on the rooftop and make up stories about stars. There is my world, you know? If you look at it careful enough, you can see it too. I believed him. Of course I did, he was my brother. We used to find mom reading. University had changed my life, she said when she was in the mood for talking. Back then we had to make a decision. You were enough for us. I listened to her, but Mihai didn't. He went out of the room. He was my never-born brother.
Adriana Patroi Miu
I joined the mother's group: how did you manage to wean your baby? Whenever he wants to. We are still waiting. He is 6 years old. Suddenly I find myself a stranger. The world I live in has nothing to do with my own normality. Since when is it normal for a 6 years old kid to play with mommy's boobies only for joy. Let's make the kid feel good. Boobies can cure everything. I wrote to them: my husband is 27 and he still enjoys it. Don't let your children educate you. They got me out of the mother's group, the only retarded person who isn't up to date. I don't even want to be.
Lenuța Fînaru
He had given up on family Christmas, the business was growing and she couldn't leave. We were coming back from a meeting. Can you see those crosses there? I was a witness to that accident. Do you want to know what my priority was after that? Getting the safest car. It costed me a fortune but it was worth it, he said with satisfaction. A few months later, I found out he had died going hiking on the mountain. He had a stroke. He was with a friend, a cardiologist. I promised to myself that I will never again be preoccupied about how to avoid death, but on how to live.
(Translated by Diana Sitaru / 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.