Fanny went straight home from school. At the door she met her mother's boyfriend, Jack. He glanced at her but didn't even bother to say hi. He just hurried past. The door to the apartment wasn't locked and Fanny realized at once that something was wrong. She peeked in the kitchen, but it was empty.
She found her mother stretched out on the sofa under a blanket. The blanket had slipped to one side, revealing that she was naked. On the table stood empty beer and wine bottles next to an ashtray filled with cigarette butts .... Yet what would happen if she went on drinking like this? She risked losing her job and then what?
Fanny didn't have the energy to think about that. Soon she wouldn't have the energy for anything at all.