"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 of an education. I was alone in the city, searching for a future.
"I applied for many jobs, but no one hired me. Perhaps no one liked someone who wasn't good with words, didn't enjoy communicating, and hadn't shown enough ability.
"For three whole days, I ate only two pieces of bread. Hunger kept me awake at night. Fortunately, I'd paid a month's rent in advance, so I could keep living in that dark basement instead of enduring the unusually bitter winter wind outside.
"At last, I found a job keeping watch at a hospital at night-watching over the morgue.
"The hospital at night was even colder than I'd imagined. The wall lamps in the corridors weren't lit, and everything was dim. I could only rely on the little light spilling out of the rooms to see where I was stepping.
"The place smelled awful. From time to time, a dead person would arrive stuffed in a body bag, and we'd help 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 free time at night to study. After all, few people wanted to come to the morgue unless a body needed to be brought in or taken away for cremation. Of course, I didn't yet have enough money to buy books, and for now, I saw no 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 taking a turn on the day shift. Always sleeping when the