Richard wasn’t an only child.
He grew up at a time when, in working-class families, very little came easily.
Every expense had to be carefully accounted for. Lunch money, clothes. There were many things the family simply couldn’t afford.
They didn’t talk about it.
He attended a technical high school in Sarajevo, specialising in mechanical engineering.
During the long break, the differences between students became obvious.
Some went to the bakery. Others stayed off to the side.
Burek was a measure of what a family could afford.
Richard didn’t have much choice.
He had one jacket. The same one he’d worn the year before. And the year before that. And the year before that, too.
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Four years. The same jacket.
He just hoped nobody would notice.
He didn’t want to become the subject of gossip in the schoolyard.
Richard had his needs. And his pride.
He was practical-minded, eager to prove himself, and restless in a way that was difficult to contain within the covers of a book.
His grades and school reports showed what he was capable of.
But he wanted to prove he could do more.
Through his own work.
Through his own knowledge.
He wanted everyone to know they could count on him.
Just came out of his teenager years.
His needs and ambitions shaped his idea of what life should be like.
Richard wanted more than life had to offer him.
