All the townsfolk were taking quinine, against the fever. The wretched river water that ran through the town, and which, in the summer, used to dry up, was undrinkable, and they said that it gave you malaria. As for the well water in Medgidia, they said the same thing. Mihalache the pharmacist had brought out a leaflet, The Causes of Paludism, which languished unsold in his shop, even after he added in ink on the cover: “How we can avoid the fever.” ...

• Medgidia, orasul de apoi / Medgidia, the Town at the End of the World

• Cristian Teodorescu