Footwork

Ramona Ungureanu
I gently stroke the animal, scratching a little on its back. It enjoys it. I softly press my head against its warm fur. I position my small stool, wash the udder nicely to keep everything clean, and place the bucket between my legs. For a long time, my fingers have been stiff, crisp like a tree trunk infested with many pine beetles, and now they crack oddly. I start to milk as gently as I can; at first, small letters fall, then words tumble out, more naturally. At first, it sounds dry, hitting the walls of the bucket. And then, it kicks again. Crumbled words. So fragile.

Gheorghiță Mircea
Few men understood her need to have her ankles caressed by the hands of the men she periodically subjected to this ritual. The right ankle represents the seat of failure. The left ankle is the sign of anxiety. Together, they are the seat of her motivations. Anxieties and the fear of failure are the driving forces of motivation; the ankles are starting points toward new ambitions and the regeneration of old ones. But for this, she needed the play of their hands, and if they climbed up her ankles, she let them believe they would find what they were looking for.

Gabriel Moldovan
She sits at the bar, one leg crossed over the other, her red shoe swaying like a cobra. I gather my courage and approach. Beautiful shoe. And very red. She raises an eyebrow, smiling. You could start with something better. I was thinking of admiring your eyes, but I was afraid the shoes might get jealous. She laughs. You're a lost cause. Will you give me a chance? She rests her chin on her hand, studying me. It depends. What's your plan? To convince you that my ankle game is better. She lifts her glass, laughing. You've got two minutes, surprise me. Then let's go, the little one's waiting.


(Translated by Claudia Garofina Greculeac / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year I / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)


Real Fiction is a collective project started in 2013 by Florin Piersic Jr. The concept of Real Fiction continued to exist as a Facebook group, after a volume of stories was published at Humanitas Publishing House. (In February 2025, the group has 13,650 members.) The authors write ultra-short stories, with the texts limited to 500 characters (in Romanian, so the length of the English translation might be a little different) - a flash-fiction exercise on a topic that changes every few days. The group's coordinators are Florin Piersic Jr., Gabriel Molnar, Răzvan Penescu, Luchian Abel, Monica Aldea, and Vlad Mușat. (Drawing by Adrian T. Roman)

Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale.