Ioana Dumitrașcu
I was so in love that I had started watching football even though I didn't understand a thing-just because he was passionate about it. What did he choose? I wondered, and told myself I'd always wear that mărțișor[1]. I didn't buy the string-I can't offer something in those colours, he said, handing me a little star. All I managed to say was, FCSB[2] is not Steaua[3] Bucharest-I had heard that somewhere and thought it would impress him. But his face darkened, and he walked away. I saw him a year later. He was with a girl in jeans, a red T-shirt, and wearing a mărțișor on her chest-without the string.
[1]Small ornamental object tied with a braided thread - red and white - which is given as a gift, as a sign of the arrival of spring, to women on March 1st.
[2]FCSB is a professional football club from Bucharest.
The coffee burned her lip; it would swell and turn red, just so those women in the office would burst with envy: Oh dear, who kissed you like that? She could already picture their faces when the boss showed up-purring with delight whenever he pinned the ever-present clover exactly over their left breast. Well, they had no idea that he caught her pure white and pink bud with his teeth, after all, that's why she had the merit bonus. She sighed. Her mug was as empty as her stare; she remembered today was her baba [1] day and also new colleague's whom the boss had asked to stir his coffee. He said he was craving a new flavour, with a hint of violet vibrations.
[1]March babele is a Romanian tradition - from March 1st to 9th, everyone chooses a day, or rather a baba and as the weather will be on that day, so will the year be for that person.
When will you come back? At the beginning of spring. I have to go now. Her heart froze. Neither the snow nor the crows in the trees at the front of the house brought her joy. Every day was the same: the alarm rang, she got dressed, drank coffee, and went to work. She tried to do her duties as well as she could. Why must there be winter? Why do trees lose their leaves? Why does the sea turn cold? She knew about the Earth's rotation, about the water cycle. But she didn't know where enthusiasm goes. What day is it today?
(Translated by Briana Guriță / 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.