Metamorphosis | Page 7

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.

So Gregor did not go into the room, but leant against the inside of the
other door which was still held bolted in place. In this way only half of
his body could be seen, along with his head above it which he leant
over to one side as he peered out at the others. Meanwhile the day had
become much lighter; part of the endless, grey-black building on the
other side of the street - which was a hospital - could be seen quite
clearly with the austere and regular line of windows piercing its facade;
the rain was still falling, now throwing down large, individual droplets
which hit the ground one at a time. The washing up from breakfast lay
on the table; there was so much of it because, for Gregor's father,
breakfast was the most important meal of the day and he would stretch
it out for several hours as he sat reading a number of different
newspapers. On the wall exactly opposite there was photograph of
Gregor when he was a lieutenant in the army, his sword in his hand and
a carefree smile on his face as he called forth respect for his uniform
and bearing. The door to the entrance hall was open and as the front
door of the flat was also open he could see onto the landing and the
stairs where they began their way down below.
"Now, then", said Gregor, well aware that he was the only one to have
kept calm, "I'll get dressed straight away now, pack up my samples and
set off. Will you please just let me leave? You can see", he said to the
chief clerk, "that I'm not stubborn and like I like to do my job; being a
commercial traveller is arduous but without travelling I couldn't earn
my living. So where are you going, in to the office? Yes? Will you