|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 23
Then the door of the bedroom opened and Mr. Samsa appeared
in his uniform with his wife on one arm and his daughter on
the other. All of them had been crying a little; Grete now
and then pressed her face against her father's arm.
"Leave my home. Now!", said Mr. Samsa, indicating the door
and without letting the women from him. "What do you
mean?", asked the middle of the three gentlemen somewhat
disconcerted, and he smiled sweetly. The other two held
their hands behind their backs and continually rubbed them
together in gleeful anticipation of a loud quarrel which
could only end in their favour. "I mean just what I said",
answered Mr. Samsa, and, with his two companions, went in a
straight line towards the man. At first, he stood there
still, looking at the ground as if the contents of his head
were rearranging themselves into new positions. "Alright,
we'll go then", he said, and looked up at Mr. Samsa as if he
had been suddenly overcome with humility and wanted
permission again from Mr. Samsa for his decision. Mr. Samsa
merely opened his eyes wide and briefly nodded to him
several times. At that, and without delay, the man actually
did take long strides into the front hallway; his two
friends had stopped rubbing their hands some time before and
had been listening to what was being said. Now they jumped
off after their friend as if taken with a sudden fear that
Mr. Samsa might go into the hallway in front of them and
break the connection with their leader. Once there, all
three took their hats from the stand, took their sticks from
the holder, bowed without a word and left the premises. Mr.
Samsa and the two women followed them out onto the landing;
but they had had no reason to mistrust the men' intentions
and as they leaned over the landing they saw how the three
gentlemen made slow but steady progress down the many steps.
As they turned the corner on each floor they disappeared and
would reappear a few moments later; the further down they
went, the more that the Samsa family lost interest in them;
when a butcher's boy, proud of posture with his tray on his
head, passed them on his way up and came nearer than they
were, Mr. Samsa and the women came away from the landing and
went, as if relieved, back into the flat.
They decided the best way to make use of that day was for
relaxation and to go for a walk; not only had they earned a
break from work but they were in serious need of it. So
they sat at the table and wrote three letters of excusal,
Mr. Samsa to his employers, Mrs. Samsa to her contractor and
Grete to her principal. The cleaner came in while they were
writing to tell them she was going, she'd finished her work
for that morning. The three of them at first just nodded
without looking up from what they were writing, and it was
only when the cleaner still did not seem to want to leave
that they looked up in irritation. "Well?", asked Mr.
Samsa. The charwoman stood in the doorway with a smile on
her face as if she had some tremendous good news to report,
but would only do it if she was clearly asked to. The
almost vertical little ostrich feather on her hat, which had
been source of irritation to Mr. Samsa all the time she had
been working for them, swayed gently in all directions.
"What is it you want then?", asked Mrs. Samsa, whom the
cleaner had the most respect for. "Yes", she answered, and
broke into a friendly laugh that made her unable to speak
straight away, "well then, that thing in there, you needn't
worry about how you're going to get rid of it. That's all
been sorted out." Mrs. Samsa and Grete bent down over their
letters as if intent on continuing with what they were
writing; Mr. Samsa saw that the cleaner wanted to start
describing everything in detail but, with outstretched hand,
he made it quite clear that she was not to. So, as she was
prevented from telling them all about it, she suddenly
remembered what a hurry she was in and, clearly peeved,
called out "Cheerio then, everyone", turned round sharply
and left, slamming the door terribly as she went.
"Tonight she gets sacked", said Mr. Samsa, but he received
no reply from either his wife or his daughter as the
charwoman seemed to have destroyed the peace they had only
just gained. They got up and went over to the window where
they remained with their arms around each other. Mr. Samsa
twisted round in his chair to look at them and sat there
watching for a while. Then he called out: "Come here, then.
Let's forget about all that old stuff, shall we. Come and
give me a bit of attention". The two women immediately did
as he said, hurrying over to him where they kissed him and
hugged him and then they quickly finished their letters.
After that, the three of them left the flat together, which
was something they had not done for months, and took the
tram out to the open country outside the town. They had the
tram, filled with warm sunshine, all to themselves. Leant
back comfortably on their seats, they discussed their
prospects and found that on closer examination they were not
at all bad - until then they had never asked each other
about their work but all three had jobs which were very good
and held particularly good promise for the future. The
greatest improvement for the time being, of course, would be
achieved quite easily by moving house; what they needed now
was a flat that was smaller and cheaper than the current one
which had been chosen by Gregor, one that was in a better
location and, most of all, more practical. All the time,
Grete was becoming livelier. With all the worry they had
been having of late her cheeks had become pale, but, while
they were talking, Mr. and Mrs. Samsa were struck, almost
simultaneously, with the thought of how their daughter was
blossoming into a well built and beautiful young lady. They
became quieter. Just from each other's glance and almost
without knowing it they agreed that it would soon be time to
find a good man for her. And, as if in confirmation of
their new dreams and good intentions, as soon as they
reached their destination Grete was the first to get up and
stretch out her young body.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|