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oh, did you arrive?

put down your rucksack

freshen up

and come to the dining table

your meal is ready

my mother said

fifteen minutes later

when I came downstairs

they were already talking about me

about how

I had been unemployed

for a year

carrying a rucksack

full of CVs

certificates

and little proofs

that I was worth something

going from one interview

to another

trying to convince strangers

that I could be useful

everywhere I went

people shook my hand

some smiled so warmly

I thought

maybe they will call me

in two hours

or tomorrow

then a week passed

then another

then a month

and suddenly

every phone call

made my heart jump

every email

made me sit straight

only to read

sorry

not this time

sometimes I thought

if I had gone

for a dancing audition

maybe they would have

let me through

to the next round

not because I was good

but because

my random steps

and clown moves

might have made them laugh

I knew

I was terrible at dancing

singing too

and after enough rejections

I started wondering

maybe I was terrible

at everything

maybe an average guy like me

was built exactly right

for nowhere

I didn’t know

what my parents thought

I didn’t ask

but I knew one thing

I was not going to give up

so the next morning

I made a serious decision

I stayed at home

and slept all day