By the Fireside

It’s colder and colder outside and the yearning to remain inside keeps growing. And so is the appetite for reading. I have recorded some videos, reading from some of my published books.

The videos below are in Romanian, but you can read their English translations under each video.

‘Aventuri de excursionist/ Adventures of tourists’

‘….

‘That sucks! It’s not the first time I hear about thefts in buses.’

‘Yeah, I don’t get it why people steal.’

‘Well’ Radu said, ‘some have reasons, even though I don’t take their side. But others…’

‘They should work, not steal’ and Cosmin’s voice started to coarsen.

‘Work is not easy at all. Look at us, waiters, we work hard and most treat us like slaves, but you’ll learn to ignore them. They can’t go beyond that! Well, market economy isn’t what it used to be. Now we have to work even more in order to afford what we easily afforded once’ Radu sighed.

‘You know, actually, it’s the other way around’ Cosmin said.

‘Oh, really! Who says that?’

‘Bertrand Russell does.’

‘Never heard of him. Who’s he?’

‘He was a great philosopher, among other things’ Cosmin answered.

‘Oh, no! I don’t want to hear about philosophers. They talk crazy things, with no life experience at all.’

‘No, this one really knew what he was saying’ Cosmin firmly replied. ‘Russell believed that modern techniques could be used in order to considerably diminish the number of working hours, for example from eight to four hours a day.’

‘Aha’ and Radu’s interest started to grow. ‘And how could we do that?’

‘He said that if we tried to reduce the number of working hours, there would be enough resources for everybody, and more, unemployment would not exist because those that work extra hours would give from their surplus to those without work places. And thus, it would be a balance for all of us. And people would have more time to spend with their families, to develop or acquire skills, and to learn new things.’

‘Aha, your idea isn’t bad.’

‘It’s not mine’ Cosmin smiled. ‘It’s Russell’s.

……’

‘I am a Veteran!’

‘….

Being so amused by the faces she made, I didn’t realize she was shaking the beer bottle for a while now. She was just like a speaker at the desk, utterly lost within emotions. She opened the bottle and foam began to flow. Since she was really ashamed, she quickly pulled a glass closer and started to pour into it. Now, on the table, there was a glass full of foam. I didn’t say anything, that would have made me really insensible to the problems she mentioned earlier. And I was in no mood to scold her; a few minutes and the foam would vanish. Actually, five minutes, to say the least. I was always intrigued and amused by her and Oana; they would ignite so fast. Exactly like their mother.

”What is this, Elena? What does your grandfather have in his glass?” Ana entered the room.

”Beer, why?” Elena serenely asked.

”Then what type of beer is this? You only poured foam in this glass. Oh, dear! You must have agitated that bottle! You did buy another bottle, right? Please, give me that, otherwise we’ll be waiting here forever until this foam goes away. Well, father, if you didn’t know, here in Tulcea, people drink beer foam instead of beer” laughed Ana, taking her right hand to her right cheek and shaking her head. Well, she had to take after her mother, too.

”Hey, it’s nothing. We were so involved in our talk that we didn’t notice.”

”Oh! And what were you talking about?” asked Ana.

”Eh, nothing important. We were talking about flowers.” Elena’s eyes were burning with gratitude. I think this is the advantage grandparents have over parents. There’s a complicity between grandparents and grandchildren that parents can never have with their children. And maybe they couldn’t even understand it, being so over their heads in their duties as parents. Ana looked at me, trying to grasp the gravity of the discussed issues, and not sensing anything alarming in my eyes, she turned over to Elena.

….’

‘Sugu the squirrel and the dog Hapciu’

‘Sugu the squirrel lived in a small forest on the outskirts of a mountain town. The tallest chestnut tree was his home. From the top of Rur (that’s how Sugu named the chestnut tree), one could enjoy the view of the town. But what Sugu loved most was to climb the tree at sunset and wait for stars to appear in the sky. He found it wonderful the way the stars light up in the sky, as if an invisible magician would flutter his magic rod. Three very luminous stars and almost perfectly aligned were his favorites. He had heard from Raf the owl, the wise of the forest, that these stars were called Orion’s Belt. How lucky was this Orion! Sugu the squirrel would have loved to own such belt.

Every morning, Sugu would exercise. He jumped from one branch to the other and loved to race against Viju the rabbit. Sometimes, Sugu would win and this made him very happy because it was a real victory, knowing that Viju would never pretend. As it happened, sugu loved entertaining. Having those two front teeth, animals would always think he was smiling. He was, but he also tried to do something more.

....’