The Symbol
In the romantic revolutionary years after the communist take-over there was a custom to hoist a red flag or lay a red cloth over the presidium table at any meeting or session having a political character. It was a revolutionary symbol, an optimistic one, a symbol of the
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
Where Is Ascona?
The three of them are filling in soccer betting slips and drinking cold beer. About the beer they seem to agree. Over the match results there is much argument. Cut my head off if these don't lose, the one in an otter fur hat says. The one in the very large rimmed hat
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.
Hypnosis
On one of the central avenues I ran across a very good friend of mine, one of the most gifted poets of our generation. Shall we have coffee together? Of course! So we entered a restaurant. It goes without saying that what with one thing and another, coffee was followed by
That Sweet Word
I was chatting with actor P. S. of the theatre named after Nottara, when a youngster with a shock of hair typical of 1958 came up to us and addressed our tragedian with perfect politeness:Maestro, I'd like to have your advice, sir!Hearing the word maestro, my elderly
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
Blind Man's Buff
It's two o'clock in the afternoon. In Mr. Nae Huiduma's inexpensive eating house (various hot and cold meals for prices that defy any competition) there are no more customers. The last one, Mr. Codica, from the Clerk's Office of the court, has left as
A Barrack Story
The barracks has always been an endless source of colorful and comic stories, of funny tales subsequently raised to the status of anecdotes… We heard them, we all keep hearing them and we transmit them to others. Who hasn't heard, for instance, the pieces attributed
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 -