Pedals

Dan Banu
Pic and Nic put their hands in their laps next to Mrs. and Mr. Jefferson listening to the organ concert at the cathedral. Wow, so beautiful, it sounds like a mammoth and a lady mammoth having a dialogue inside a cave. The woman looked at Nic amused. Why does that man press those keys, Nic whispered into his brother's ears. So that angels inside the organ know through which tube to sing. Nic seems satisfied with the answer. Why does he push the pedals? The pedals open a door so that the exhausted angels shift with the rested ones.
 
 Răzvan Drăgoi
I bought a Flintstonean car. Very fast downhill and slow upwards. Its engine is willpowered and based on conscience processes. No pedals, foot to the floor, literally. Breaking is impact-based. It stops the moment you hit something. The transmission is catenary fertilization, which means that it has a chain in which, when it feels like it, a pipe goes in. After nine months, a bunch of little chains come out, crying out for grease. It wouldn't be bad if someone invented the wheel too.
 
 David Brescan
The orange clown grabbed three pots, threw them up one by one and set off to juggle them astride the unicycle. It was the only juggling he knew. On the ground was a map of the world. He started from America and went around the arena twice. By the third time he reached Russia, his foot slipped, he was on the ground, and Europe was in the firing line. The stands burst into laughter. The orange clown leaned ironically towards the audience and hid the broken pedals, stamped Made in China, in his pocket.

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