The Larva
It was almost closing time. I guess you all know what a horrible time that is! The waiters are all in a hurry not to miss the last tram that leaves Balcescu Square at ten past one; they are therefore busily collecting the tablecloths while the customers are still eating,
Excitement
I was preparing to go to the editorial office where I was going to give a lecture in front of a group of journalists. A cultivated, exigent, familiar audience. I was waiting for the car to take me there. I like to be left alone in such moments, so that my excitement doesn't
Inquiry Halfway Down The Stairs
Excuse my asking sir, but people say that the grandmother of the family in whose flat you have a furnished room is your mistress. Should that bother anyone? She is a good-looking woman who has just turned 56 and if you must know it, she is quite a spicy one. It was her who
The First Story For Children Under 3
Josette is a big girl already, she is thirty-three months old. One morning, as she does every morning, she directs her small, faltering steps to the door of her parents' room. She tries to push the door open, like a puppy. She loses her patience and shouts, which jolts
The Apprentices Of Saint Anthony
excerptIAfter Shrovetide Reverend Ghelasie, mighty tired after the evening of Shrovetide that expended to till the matins service, spent in the company of his friend and neighbor Ghervasie, opened an eye only when the early March sun, also fatigued, cast a reddish-yellow
The Gods' Humor From Vishnu To ... Caragiale
God Himself had a great sense of humor when He allowed us to be born into this world… The gods' smile is a kind of gentle answer to human ignorance, but also the preparation of the human mind for understanding the mystery. Why are mysteries also revealed through
Local Civilization
'Make your stores - they're cutting it off,' calls the bobby, pushing the entrance door ajar. And every member of the household hurries to grab a pail, a mug or any of the tinier pots and pans, dashing forward to the tap (the house is endowed with a tap -
The Uninvited Guest
It was past midnight. I had gone to bed a long time ago but sleep refused to come. I was permanently lulled between sleep and wakefulness by the same strange dream. I woke up with a start: somebody must have knocked at the front door. I heard the knocking again. Rather dizzy
The Keys
Mitzu and Barutzu have grown up some and started conspiring. In the brief reprieves between a lot of hair-pulling and two-way jostling, with their generation's interests in mind, they eventually realize they are in duty bound to organize against the big guns: Mummy
Rădoaia
The leader of a new political party has just written to me from Bacău. I quote:I have wandered the snows of the county for a few days now. I've had very little rest, but have walked and talked quite a lot instead. The electoral problem consists in wiping off the oratorical
A Very Lucky Man
My friend Mr. Manolache Cuvidi is a well-known character in our society; he is a man of substance, his rather comfortable wealth has been earned through honest work; he's an intelligent and earnest fellow, an ideal husband and an ideal father of a family. Given so many
A Favour
Act One A wretched land, Sir! The country of ill-granted favours! was telling me at the height of our discussion, Mr Ibrişim an elector to the first collegium, bitterly criticizing our various administrations. Only now and then interrupting himself in order to drain a