Every now and then, I get a brilliant idea, one that seems like it could rescue me from the monotony of my current job. I get excited right away, jot it down, make plans, and analyze it in two columns, pros and cons. Then I daydream about being my own boss, doing whatever I want, whenever and however I please, imagining the moment I slam my resignation onto that ogre's desk. But I let it sit for a few days. Slowly, I revisit it less and less, my enthusiasm fades, and, like all my ideas, it ends up crumpled in the trash.
Florentina Ghițescu
Mom, what does gentleman mean? It means being a well-mannered, polite, kind person. What does kind mean? Mom smiled. Where did you hear that word? From Jules Verne, I'm reading Around the World in 80 Days. It's pronounced gentâlmen and comes from English, a good man, a gentleman who knows how to behave in the world. Do you like it? Yes. I'm almost done with it. It's going to be the first book I ever read, Mom. Can you imagine? And there are so many books in the library, and we have some at school too. And when I grow up, I'll have my own library. So many worlds, Mom.
Horațiu Dudău
I was dizzy. I never really understood this wedding music. In fact, I never understood anything. I'm about to enter the next grade in high school, and I'm still a virgin. I'm dizzy. Especially after that encounter with those rockers, all beat up and rough, who destroyed my Depeche Mode vibe. I can still hear Metallica in my head. I look around. I see her. God, her eyes scream that she's going to college in the fall and she's still a virgin. Sorry, it's like I'm writing in a journal. It's as if the storm was for nothing. We both left the wedding. When I came back, I was a different person.
(Translated by Laurențiu-Gabriel Niculae / 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.