Pita

The Erstwhile Snows

Winters in Ramnicu Valcea were quite mild in those times, though there was plenty of snow (I guess this is the cliché of those whose childhood memories are blurred by their excessive subjectivity); anyway, they unfolded following a certain ritual: at the beginning of December

Across The Border

THE CLASS TEACH' You don't fool me, Ghiţulescu! You've got Kents, bless your wallet! Throw one over, 'cause I'm poor, my mother's unemployed and keeps me only on shots of glucose, she has no food to give me. Come ooooooon, please! Ghiţulescu

Education Around 1800, Between Accomplishment And Expenditure

In 1803, Maria Barbatescu entrusts her son to the care of ceaush (bailiff) Mihalache Barbatescu and that of stolnic (High Steward) Ghitza Palada. The will, written in the spring of that year, stipulates that the two should supervise the accomplishment of the child and the

Party With Mom

excerpt The children used to fill a long, silky, women's stocking with sand, they used to tie it up really tight, then they used to hang a thin, nylon thread to it. In the evening, they hid the stocking in the rose bush, opposite to the sidewalk, and then they waited

The Little Girl Who Took The Word No Into Her Arms

A story, no matter how good or bad it may be, is in the end no more than a joining of words. That's something we know. But where do the story-tellers take out their words that they put together and make stories with (good or bad)? That's what we don't know.

Mr. Goe

So that he could finally be promoted at the end of this school year, grandma, mommy and aunty Mitsa promised to take the young Goe to Bucharest on the King's anniversary, the 10th of May. Little do we care if the three dames decide to leave their comfortable spot to

The Bobiners

excerptONE-EYE-SHORTOnce upon a time there was a blond pirate who had one blue eye, while the other was covered with black cloth on purpose. Because the first ship had been taken over by sparrows, the second was on the point of sharing its fate. The ship One-Eye-Short worked

Plush Plumbeous

excerpt PLUSH PLUMBEOUS RETURNS TO THE TOWN OF MORE-THAN-A-WEE-BIT Once upon a time, there was a place. It was formless and nameless, and no one had yet travelled through it on the tram. At that time, hundreds of thousands of abandoned dolls had begun to wander hither and

The Children's Crusade

excerpt Attention on platform three! Please stand clear of the edge of platform three! The special train is now arriving from Oradea! Attention on platform three! Please stand clear of the edge of platform three! The special holiday train is now arriving from Oradea! The

Prince Charming Of A Tear Born

In the days of old, when the people of today were just the project of a distant future, when God Himself trod with His sacred feet the rocky deserts of the earth – in those old times there was a king, gloomy and pensive as the dark midnight, and he was married to a young

Nobody's Angels

excerpts  PROMISES  Those of us who looked after the severely ill, close to their end in hospitals or foster homes made a lot of promises to them. Some asked for the impossible, namely to save them from death, but most of them only wished not to die alone and, above all,

The Danube Delta - Remember

Whenever one talks about the beauties of our country and its tourist potential, the first words on the speaker's lips are: the Danube Delta. Unfailingly accompanied by the phrase biosphere reserve. Sometimes, the fact that it is a wetland of international importance