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- 2026-01-27T20:59:06.315Z
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- their arms under the dome of his back, peel him away from the bed, bend
down with the load and then be patient and careful as he swang over
onto the floor, where, hopefully, the little legs would find a use.
Should he really call for help though, even apart from the fact that
all the doors were locked? Despite all the difficulty he was in, he
could not suppress a smile at this thought.
After a while he had already moved so far across that it would have
been hard for him to keep his balance if he rocked too hard. The time
was now ten past seven and he would have to make a final decision very
soon. Then there was a ring at the door of the flat. “That’ll be
someone from work”, he said to himself, and froze very still, although
his little legs only became all the more lively as they danced around.
For a moment everything remained quiet. “They’re not opening the door”,
Gregor said to himself, caught in some nonsensical hope. But then of
course, the maid’s firm steps went to the door as ever and opened it.
Gregor only needed to hear the visitor’s first words of greeting and he
knew who it was—the chief clerk himself. Why did Gregor have to be the
only one condemned to work for a company where they immediately became
highly suspicious at the slightest shortcoming? Were all employees,
every one of them, louts, was there not one of them who was faithful
and devoted who would go so mad with pangs of conscience that he
couldn’t get out of bed if he didn’t spend at least a couple of hours
in the morning on company business? Was it really not enough to let one
of the trainees make enquiries—assuming enquiries were even
necessary—did the chief clerk have to come himself, and did they have
to show the whole, innocent family that this was so suspicious that
only the chief clerk could be trusted to have the wisdom to investigate
it? And more because these thoughts had made him upset than through any
proper decision, he swang himself with all his force out of the bed.
There was a loud thump, but it wasn’t really a loud noise. His fall was
softened a little by the carpet, and Gregor’s back was also more
elastic than he had thought, which made the sound muffled and not too
noticeable. He had not held his head carefully enough, though, and hit
it as he fell; annoyed and in pain, he turned it and rubbed it against
the carpet.
“Something’s fallen down in there”, said the chief clerk in the room on
the left. Gregor tried to imagine whether something of the sort that
had happened to him today could ever happen to the chief clerk too; you
had to concede that it was possible. But as if in gruff reply to this
question, the chief clerk’s firm footsteps in his highly polished boots
could now be heard in the adjoining room. From the room on his right,
Gregor’s sister whispered to him to let him know: “Gregor, the chief
clerk is here.” “Yes, I know”, said Gregor to himself; but without
daring to raise his voice loud enough for his sister to hear him.
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- Chunk 2