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Page 20
"Mr. Samsa!", shouted the middle gentleman to Gregor's
father, pointing, without wasting any more words, with his
forefinger at Gregor as he slowly moved forward. The violin
went silent, the middle of the three gentlemen first smiled
at his two friends, shaking his head, and then looked back
at Gregor. His father seemed to think it more important to
calm the three gentlemen before driving Gregor out, even
though they were not at all upset and seemed to think Gregor
was more entertaining that the violin playing had been. He
rushed up to them with his arms spread out and attempted to
drive them back into their room at the same time as trying
to block their view of Gregor with his body. Now they did
become a little annoyed, and it was not clear whether it was
his father's behaviour that annoyed them or the dawning
realisation that they had had a neighbour like Gregor in the
next room without knowing it. They asked Gregor's father
for explanations, raised their arms like he had, tugged
excitedly at their beards and moved back towards their room
only very slowly. Meanwhile Gregor's sister had overcome
the despair she had fallen into when her playing was
suddenly interrupted. She had let her hands drop and let
violin and bow hang limply for a while but continued to look
at the music as if still playing, but then she suddenly
pulled herself together, lay the instrument on her mother's
lap who still sat laboriously struggling for breath where
she was, and ran into the next room which, under pressure
from her father, the three gentlemen were more quickly
moving toward. Under his sister's experienced hand, the
pillows and covers on the beds flew up and were put into
order and she had already finished making the beds and
slipped out again before the three gentlemen had reached the
room. Gregor's father seemed so obsessed with what he was
doing that he forgot all the respect he owed to his tenants.
He urged them and pressed them until, when he was already at
the door of the room, the middle of the three gentlemen
shouted like thunder and stamped his foot and thereby
brought Gregor's father to a halt. "I declare here and
now", he said, raising his hand and glancing at Gregor's
mother and sister to gain their attention too, "that with
regard to the repugnant conditions that prevail in this flat
and with this family" - here he looked briefly but
decisively at the floor - "I give immediate notice on my
room. For the days that I have been living here I will, of
course, pay nothing at all, on the contrary I will consider
whether to proceed with some kind of action for damages from
you, and believe me it would be very easy to set out the
grounds for such an action." He was silent and looked
straight ahead as if waiting for something. And indeed, his
two friends joined in with the words: "And we also give
immediate notice." With that, he took hold of the door
handle and slammed the door.
Gregor's father staggered back to his seat, feeling his way
with his hands, and fell into it; it looked as if he was
stretching himself out for his usual evening nap but from
the uncontrolled way his head kept nodding it could be seen
that he was not sleeping at all. Throughout all this,
Gregor had lain still where the three gentlemen had first
seen him. His disappointment at the failure of his plan,
and perhaps also because he was weak from hunger, made it
impossible for him to move. He was sure that everyone would
turn on him any moment, and he waited. He was not even
startled out of this state when the violin on his mother's
lap fell from her trembling fingers and landed loudly on the
floor.
"Father, Mother", said his sister, hitting the table with
her hand as introduction, "we can't carry on like this.
Maybe you can't see it, but I can. I don't want to call
this monster my brother, all I can say is: we have to try
and get rid of it. We've done all that's humanly possible
to look after it and be patient, I don't think anyone could
accuse us of doing anything wrong." "She's absolutely
right", said Gregor's father to himself. His mother, who
still had not had time to catch her breath, began to cough
dully, her hand held out in front of her and a deranged
expression in her eyes.
Gregor's sister rushed to his mother and put her hand on her
forehead. Her words seemed to give Gregor's father some
more definite ideas. He sat upright, played with his
uniform cap between the plates left by the three gentlemen
after their meal, and occasionally looked down at Gregor as
he lay there immobile.
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