Andra Toropoc
I'm Matache Amzuța, a Gemini from Sălaj, and I chose the capital as my Horizon of activity.
At Unirii, I'm among the Veterans-I work in many Fields, but I still look like a Baby Chick in a Mini skirt and heels, attracting clients with the Eagle and leading them on the Path of Clouds.
Yesterday, there was a raid. I explained that I serve the Progress and the Heroes who work like Titans. Some booted Brutes took me and dragged me down the Road to another Camp. They say they collect flyers in Rahova and then send them to Obor. New pimps, new Ambrosia.[1]
[1]Pajura, Norilor, Rahova, Obor, and Drumul Taberei etc. are neighborhoods in Bucharest, used with ironic meaning.
I am not blaming anyone; we met by chance at the livestock market. Since then, she's been treating me accordingly, convinced that all men are pigs. It's not their fault that God made women as beautiful as flowers, and while the pigs are off working, they go pollinating with all kinds of butterflies and ladybugs. They don't think much, and they certainly don't regret it. I haven't seen pigs with wings, but I've seen them fly, sure. And since she's already crowned me with the trophy of a fallow deer, like a pig with antlers, I've decided that if I live until autumn, I'll move to the forest and start grunting.
Clara Marinescu
I am sharpening the knife with hostility. I am rubbing it against a Paxton lapis lazuli stone and my furrowed eyebrows make me seem more fierce than usual. Sweat is running down my cheeks and I keep polishing it. The noise, followed by sparks, drowns out the sound of the bells marking the exact time. I test the cleaver by stabbing it into the wood and finally, I smile with satisfaction. A miniture Excalibur. I cut the watermelon and the sweet juice drips disgustingly onto the stall already stained with something that looks like blood. The customer pays and runs off, frightened.
(Translated by Adina-Lorena Dulamă / 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.