how low my mother had fallen

"Worse was to come, something I could never have imagined. I opened the drawer of her bedside table to make sure she still had some biscuits. I saw what I believed to be a cookie and took it. It was a human turd. I slammed the drawer shut in utter confusion. Then it occurred to me that if I left it there, someone would find it, and that subconsciously, I probably wanted this to happen so that they could see how low my mother had fallen. I found a piece of paper and went to flush it down the toilet. I recalled a scene from my childhood: I had hidden some excrements in my bedroom cupboard because I felt too lazy to go downstairs and use the outdoor toilet."

~~ from I Remain in Darkness by Annie Ernaux

Sartre's Nausea

"The little old lady needed to go to the can, wobbling on her crooked, spindly legs, squealing as usual. She spent a long time in there while I saw beside my mother. I recalled the spell of gastroenteritis I had suffered in tenth grade; I was reading Sartre's novel Nausea. Like the old lady, I saw hunched over my swollen belly. It was a cold, sunny month of February."

~~ from I Remain in Darkness by Annie Ernaux

the way to her mouth

"She couldn't find the way to her mouth, her hands kept wandering off to the right. I helped her to eat her cake. When her fingers were empty, she continued to raise them to her lips. I wonder if a child does that; I can't remember."

~~ from I Remain in Darkness by Annie Ernaux