Rus

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

In An Empty Room

Grandfather has turned 90. This event has immediately brought to our attention the need of finding someone to look after him. He is all by himself in his flat. His sons and grandsons have no time to pay him but short visits. He is so bored. He quite rarely leaves his flat.

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

Long Autumn

In our parts, at Jassy, autumn starts late in May and lasts until Christmas. There is no summer in Jassy. If from time to time, winter did not come we could say we have only autumn over here. Nice weather begins with foul smells, green flies and heat. Then it turns nasty.

Ismail And Turnavitu

excerpt Ismail is made up of eyes, whiskers and an evening gown and nowadays he is in very short supply in the market. Formerly, he used to grow in the Botanical Garden too, and later on, thanks to the progress of modern science, one has managed to produce one chemically,

After The Storm

The rain had stopped and the last traces of the clouds had been completely scattered by the wind… His clothes wet and his hair disheveled he was wandering in the night, looking for shelter… Without being aware of it, he got to the old and worn out crypt of the monastery

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

Maria

'Ma'am, I don't know what to do. I'm pregnant. ''What are you talking about, Maria? Have you no shame?'Maria was 18, had an athletic body and a heavy step, like that of a pack horse. Still, on top of a thin neck, her child-like face with

Napoleon's Victor

That summer, teacher Caranfil had gone to spend his holidays at Neamţul Monastery and on the day when the events he related to me had occurred to him, he had taken a trip with a company of friends in the surroundings of the monastery, beyond Procov hermitage. When he had

Repetitive Ducks

Taking large strides with his long legs adorned with double-red stripes, the colonel - a brigadier with one star splitting the waves of the crowd who drew back like the Red Sea before Moses, advanced, dry and black like a cigar, to board the gunboat Oituz which, shining

A Career

Captain Drăgoi used to enjoy much consideration among officers. He had gone through the whole set of hard tests. From a non-commissioned officer he had been promoted second-lieutenant in the regiment of a colonel with many daughters who had been withering, a prey to hidden