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Page 5
"Did you understand a word of all that?" the chief clerk
asked his parents, "surely he's not trying to make fools of
us". "Oh, God!" called his mother, who was already in
tears, "he could be seriously ill and we're making him
suffer. Grete! Grete!" she then cried. "Mother?" his sister
called from the other side. They communicated across
Gregor's room. "You'll have to go for the doctor straight
away. Gregor is ill. Quick, get the doctor. Did you hear
the way Gregor spoke just now?"
"That was the voice of an animal", said the chief clerk,
with a calmness that was in contrast with his mother's
screams. "Anna! Anna!" his father called into the kitchen
through the entrance hall, clapping his hands, "get a
locksmith here, now!" And the two girls, their skirts
swishing, immediately ran out through the hall, wrenching
open the front door of the flat as they went. How had his
sister managed to get dressed so quickly? There was no
sound of the door banging shut again; they must have left it
open; people often do in homes where something awful has
happened.
Gregor, in contrast, had become much calmer. So they
couldn't understand his words any more, although they seemed
clear enough to him, clearer than before - perhaps his ears
had become used to the sound. They had realised, though,
that there was something wrong with him, and were ready to
help. The first response to his situation had been
confident and wise, and that made him feel better. He felt
that he had been drawn back in among people, and from the
doctor and the locksmith he expected great and surprising
achievements - although he did not really distinguish one
from the other. Whatever was said next would be crucial,
so, in order to make his voice as clear as possible, he
coughed a little, but taking care to do this not too loudly
as even this might well sound different from the way that a
human coughs and he was no longer sure he could judge this
for himself. Meanwhile, it had become very quiet in the
next room. Perhaps his parents were sat at the table
whispering with the chief clerk, or perhaps they were all
pressed against the door and listening.
Gregor slowly pushed his way over to the door with the
chair. Once there he let go of it and threw himself onto
the door, holding himself upright against it using the
adhesive on the tips of his legs. He rested there a little
while to recover from the effort involved and then set
himself to the task of turning the key in the lock with his
mouth. He seemed, unfortunately, to have no proper teeth -
how was he, then, to grasp the key? - but the lack of teeth
was, of course, made up for with a very strong jaw; using
the jaw, he really was able to start the key turning,
ignoring the fact that he must have been causing some kind
of damage as a brown fluid came from his mouth, flowed over
the key and dripped onto the floor.
"Listen", said the chief clerk in the next room, "he's
turning the key." Gregor was greatly encouraged by this;
but they all should have been calling to him, his father and
his mother too: "Well done, Gregor", they should have cried,
"keep at it, keep hold of the lock!" And with the idea that
they were all excitedly following his efforts, he bit on the
key with all his strength, paying no attention to the pain
he was causing himself. As the key turned round he turned
around the lock with it, only holding himself upright with
his mouth, and hung onto the key or pushed it down again
with the whole weight of his body as needed. The clear
sound of the lock as it snapped back was Gregor's sign that
he could break his concentration, and as he regained his
breath he said to himself: "So, I didn't need the locksmith
after all". Then he lay his head on the handle of the door
to open it completely.
Because he had to open the door in this way, it was already
wide open before he could be seen. He had first to slowly
turn himself around one of the double doors, and he had to
do it very carefully if he did not want to fall flat on his
back before entering the room. He was still occupied with
this difficult movement, unable to pay attention to anything
else, when he heard the chief clerk exclaim a loud "Oh!",
which sounded like the soughing of the wind. Now he also
saw him - he was the nearest to the door - his hand pressed
against his open mouth and slowly retreating as if driven by
a steady and invisible force. Gregor's mother, her hair
still dishevelled from bed despite the chief clerk's being
there, looked at his father. Then she unfolded her arms,
took two steps forward towards Gregor and sank down onto the
floor into her skirts that spread themselves out around her
as her head disappeared down onto her breast. His father
looked hostile, and clenched his fists as if wanting to
knock Gregor back into his room. Then he looked uncertainly
round the living room, covered his eyes with his hands and
wept so that his powerful chest shook.
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