Ruined

Ana-Maria Butuza
You're all subordinates. I'm the only one with power here. Mr. Bielski's voice rang sharp through the hall full of workers, where any protest was quickly crushed. You want higher wages, better conditions, while the state is ruining me? Taxes, levies, inspections and you go on strike? That's your gratitude? A heavy silence fell. Bielski sneered and pointed toward the door. The gates are open. If you're not satisfied, leave. Others are waiting to take your place. Only one voice rose from the crowd: Who's waiting? Because when we leave, there's no one at the gate.
 
 Vlad Mușat
I asked Tatiana to pay attention to the details when she was doing my tattoo. Every collapsed building, every cat or dog, every bird in the sky. In the center, a broken umbilical cord, a baby, and a lot of blood. The tattoo has to remind me of how I came into this world, right during the earthquake. I'm the one born among the dead, who screamed until a dog heard me and, if it weren't for my story, I wouldn't have believed that she nursed me, longing for her dead pups. The firefighters barely managed to take me from beside her.
 
 Gyorgy Gyorfi-Deak
Dad, I've found a way we can ruin the competition, said the young banker to the financial mogul. The old man measured him with a glance. Didn't they teach you anything at that university I sent you to study finance? Oh, Dad, here's my diploma. Forget the university life is the best teacher. Why do you want to bankrupt your rivals? To take over the market? The anti-monopoly laws will kick in right away and block you too. It's better to let them get into debt and you just collect the interest.

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