Once, we got inside, we started spreading ourselves, everybody went to the nearest butcher or to the one that they knew, they winked to him, and asked him about his health. I cannot say that happened daily but four times a week, there certainly was meat in the Obor Hall. On the other hand, when I wanted fowl, I had some friends who lived at Lady Ghica, on that street that crosses Fundeni, there, at the ground floor there was a store for fowl. It was famous at the time. The supplies were brought there at night, and they sold everything during the night. I had some good friends, an architect, who lived in a house, in the building just across Lady Ghica, so he could see the store. They were on guard surveying it all the time. And they gave me a call. ?They have ducks and hens, come here.? And we came. Usually, at nights, we used to see a film or two, so we watched a videocassette and we kept an eye on the store and so we got meat. The best informed were the taxi drivers. When they were in the area, they announced through the radio station: there is meat at Lady Ghica and one could see taxis over taxis in the whole area. The buddies went to buy meat. Do you know why they sold it through the back door? Theoretically, I think, it happened because normally, according to the legislation, they were not allowed to sell anything after a certain hour, as it was considered that electric power was wasted. I saw very many people coming there from various districts due to the announcements. (C. M., 142)

Our factory was at the outskirts of the town; the fence behind it delimited the fields of sunflower. We jumped over the fence and we filled our bags with flowers, so we had some seeds to crunch. One day, somebody came and said, ?Hey come over here!? So we followed him. We got there, in the back and we could not believe our eyes: some gypsies had finished chopping a horse into pieces; they cleaned its ribs, the spine, and every single bit. The man who called us had seen them earlier and had heard them speak. They had stolen the horse, dead or alive, I did not know, and they wanted to sell its meat. They washed it with some vinegar and they intended to smuggle it, or something like this. (C. M., 27)

We, the children ate the best parts of the chicken, while the parents ate the rest. (14)