"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 wasn't well educated. I was searching for a future alone in the city.
"I applied for many jobs, but no one hired me. Perhaps nobody liked someone who wasn't good at speaking, didn't enjoy communicating, and hadn't demonstrated sufficient ability.
"Over three whole days, I ate only two pieces of bread. Hunger kept me awake at night. Fortunately, I had 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.
"Finally, I found a job keeping watch at a hospital at night-keeping watch over the morgue.
"The hospital was even colder at night than I had 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.
"It smelled terrible there. Now and then, the dead arrived stuffed into body bags, and we helped 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 visit the morgue unless a body needed to be delivered or taken away for cremation. Of course, I still didn't have enough money to buy books, and for now, I saw no hope of saving any.
"I had to thank my predecessor. If he hadn't suddenly quit, I might not have managed to get even a job like this.
"I dreamed of being rotated onto the day shift. Always going to sleep when the sun rose and waking after nightfall