"I was a failure. I hardly ever noticed whether the sun was shining, because I had no time.
"My parents couldn't support me, and I didn't have much education. I was alone in the city, searching for a future.
"I applied for many jobs, but no one hired me. Perhaps nobody liked someone who wasn't good with words, disliked communicating, and hadn't shown sufficient ability.
"For three whole days, I ate only two loaves of bread. Hunger kept me awake at night. Luckily, I'd paid a month's rent in advance, so I could keep living in that dark basement instead of enduring the exceptionally cold winter wind outside.
"At last, I found a job working nights at a hospital, watching over the morgue.
"The hospital was even colder at night than I'd imagined. The wall lamps in the corridors weren't lit, and everything was dim. I could only see where I was stepping by the little light spilling out of the rooms.
"The place smelled terrible. From time to time, the dead would arrive stuffed into body bags, and we'd work together to carry them into the morgue.
"It wasn't a very good job, but at least it let me afford bread. I could also use my spare time at night to study. After all, few people wanted to visit the morgue unless they had bodies to deliver or take away for cremation. Of course, I didn't have enough money to buy books yet, nor could I see any hope of saving any.
"I had my former colleague to thank. If he hadn't suddenly quit, I might not even have gotten a job like this.
"I dreamed of being able to rotate onto the day shift. Always going to sleep when the sun rose and getting up after nightfall had