Ralf Brändle

When Ralf was three-and-a-half years old, his father suddenly left his mother and him one night and was never heard from again.

Ralf himself was too little to really understand what his father had done to him and to his mother. Yet, the older he got, the more he became aware of what was missing in his life without his father. Despite that, Ralf and his mother never really talked about that fateful night. All Ralf knows about his father is that he was a scientist – and that he allegedly loved his son. Ralf never wanted to complicate his mother’s life further, so he finished school as a model student. He went on to study computer science at the Institute of Technology and now works as a software engineer for a big Stuttgart-based insurance. He does not particularly enjoy his job, but considering the current job market, he is happy to be employed at all. Ralf adopted this attitude from his mother. He is not one to abandon oneself to illusions. Ideals, after all, need to be afforded. Ralf simply does what needs to be done. But ist hat really all there is to life? Is it meant to consist of nothing but duty and dates? Of superficial friends and vanilla girlfriends?