Dana Popescu
[...] to continue the Story. I thought I would have time to finish it, but this aging body betrayed me. I don't hold a grudge against it, I betrayed everyone who loved me, everyone who should have meant something, everyone who was defeated by my lack of love. I wrote everything here, just follow the steps and you will heal humanity from the disease that kills faster and more surely than cancer: sadness. What does "maladie" mean, Daddy? Receiving no answer, the little girl made an airplane out of the yellowed ticket and sent it, with a kiss, into the world.
Aurelian Țolescu
He was older than me, but we were best friends. We worked in the same office, played all sorts of pranks on other colleagues, met with our families, went on trips, had barbecues, drank mulled plum brandy outside in the freezing cold in the mountains. We fixed our cars together and did exceptional joint projects. We were both highly appreciated. In the competition for a managerial position, only we competed, as the best in the team. I received the appointment order. 27 years have passed. He never spoke to me again.
Alina Ilie
If you are reading this, you are among the blessed, those who had access to education. It doesn't matter how, by candlelight or under a chandelier, someone deciphered the mystery of letters for you and brought you books with fairies and handsome princes, born from milk, or no one brought you anything, leaving you to practice on newspaper scraps that fly for this purpose. Whether you are reading a velvet-covered edition or one you wrapped in gift paper to prolong its life, don't forget that you were chosen to change the world.
(Translated by Eduard Mihai Uretu / 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.