At Home Among Strangers, a Stranger Among His Own

At first glance, it is a family idyll. Warm water, familiar faces, a peaceful scene. But one of them is different, not bad, not foreign, simply different. Sometimes, in order to belong, you have to become someone else. When a family lacks support, a child becomes the adult. You do not know how to quack, you do not know how to be a duckling, but you know perfectly well how to read the atmosphere. You learned to be convenient, round, smooth. It helped you survive. And then it became part of you, and you stay with that feeling forever, as if you are toy-like among the living, as if you are trying to be normal for them, for everyone, for the world. But there is tenderness in this too. This is family too, just this kind of family.