Once Upon a Time

Elena Fermuș
The streets were not paved with gold in the city, but, compared to rural life, where the fumes-smelling floorboard creaked like a sad song, there was some small extra something to be found. All the village folks came after that something. My mother, on Sundays. She woke up at the crack of dawn; one cow had to be milked, some milk had to be set to curdle. Livestock have no holidays. She came back with the 11 o'clock bus. She would bring me chocolate chicks and bunnies filled with candy. After I had emptied them, they became my toys. I would fill them with water, with sand, with dreams. Nowadays, you can find chocolate anywhere you look. My mother - nowhere to be found. It is her whom I would like to see.
 
 Ionuț Morariu
You do not know how insensitive the living can be. I died three years ago, and to this day, no one has noticed. I'm dying of boredom. And, since I don't get to hear too many new stories, I wear the old ones out. Their warp is becoming warped, their heddle is showing, I'm telling you, so worn out they are. I'm dead serious. They have all been carefully sewn to leave no loose ends. But you must be sleepwalking not to notice that even the Great Storyteller goes around with knockoffs. Want proof? It is enough that all start with Once upon a time.
 
 Paul Dârvariu
There once was, but it passed. What use is in digging up the dead? Yes, I did it, but I don't regret it. I did it to save my father. I loved him. I loved her, too. Until she stole him from me. An act of theft is a thousand times worse than the act of embezzlement she was arrested for. After all, what is the big deal with what I have done? Two words, on a piece of paper. Things might have been worse for her if I had not written them down. And for him, if he had had the chance to take her. You know what? Spare me the accusations. Without that denunciation, you would not bear this honourable name.

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