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Page 14
So, while the women were leant against the desk in the other
room catching their breath, he sallied out, changed
direction four times not knowing what he should save first
before his attention was suddenly caught by the picture on
the wall - which was already denuded of everything else that
had been on it - of the lady dressed in copious fur. He
hurried up onto the picture and pressed himself against its
glass, it held him firmly and felt good on his hot belly.
This picture at least, now totally covered by Gregor, would
certainly be taken away by no-one. He turned his head to
face the door into the living room so that he could watch
the women when they came back.
They had not allowed themselves a long rest and came back
quite soon; Grete had put her arm around her mother and was
nearly carrying her. "What shall we take now, then?", said
Grete and looked around. Her eyes met those of Gregor on
the wall. Perhaps only because her mother was there, she
remained calm, bent her face to her so that she would not
look round and said, albeit hurriedly and with a tremor in
her voice: "Come on, let's go back in the living room for a
while?" Gregor could see what Grete had in mind, she wanted
to take her mother somewhere safe and then chase him down
from the wall. Well, she could certainly try it! He sat
unyielding on his picture. He would rather jump at Grete's
face.
But Grete's words had made her mother quite worried, she
stepped to one side, saw the enormous brown patch against
the flowers of the wallpaper, and before she even realised
it was Gregor that she saw screamed: "Oh God, oh God!" Arms
outstretched, she fell onto the couch as if she had given up
everything and stayed there immobile. "Gregor!" shouted his
sister, glowering at him and shaking her fist. That was the
first word she had spoken to him directly since his
transformation. She ran into the other room to fetch some
kind of smelling salts to bring her mother out of her faint;
Gregor wanted to help too - he could save his picture later,
although he stuck fast to the glass and had to pull himself
off by force; then he, too, ran into the next room as if he
could advise his sister like in the old days; but he had to
just stand behind her doing nothing; she was looking into
various bottles, he startled her when she turned round; a
bottle fell to the ground and broke; a splinter cut Gregor's
face, some kind of caustic medicine splashed all over him;
now, without delaying any longer, Grete took hold of all the
bottles she could and ran with them in to her mother; she
slammed the door shut with her foot. So now Gregor was shut
out from his mother, who, because of him, might be near to
death; he could not open the door if he did not want to
chase his sister away, and she had to stay with his mother;
there was nothing for him to do but wait; and, oppressed
with anxiety and self-reproach, he began to crawl about, he
crawled over everything, walls, furniture, ceiling, and
finally in his confusion as the whole room began to spin
around him he fell down into the middle of the dinner table.
He lay there for a while, numb and immobile, all around him
it was quiet, maybe that was a good sign. Then there was
someone at the door. The maid, of course, had locked
herself in her kitchen so that Grete would have to go and
answer it. His father had arrived home. "What's happened?"
were his first words; Grete's appearance must have made
everything clear to him. She answered him with subdued
voice, and openly pressed her face into his chest: "Mother's
fainted, but she's better now. Gregor got out." "Just as I
expected", said his father, "just as I always said, but you
women wouldn't listen, would you."
It was clear to Gregor that Grete had not said enough and
that his father took it to mean that something bad had
happened, that he was responsible for some act of violence.
That meant Gregor would now have to try to calm his father,
as he did not have the time to explain things to him even if
that had been possible. So he fled to the door of his room
and pressed himself against it so that his father, when he
came in from the hall, could see straight away that Gregor
had the best intentions and would go back into his room
without delay, that it would not be necessary to drive him
back but that they had only to open the door and he would
disappear.
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