The Meowmorphosis Read Free

conspicuous. But he had not held up his head with sufficient care and had hit it. He turned his head, irritated and in pain, and rubbed it on the carpet, first his fuzzy cheeks, then his tufted ears. The pleasure of this action was intense, and he kept at it for some time, despite the danger presented by his manager’s unexpected appearance. He could not help himself.
    “Something has fallen in there,” said the manager in the next room on the left. Gregor tried to imagine to himself whether anything similar to what was happening to him today could have also happened at some point to the manager. At least one had to concede the possibility of such a thing. However, as if to give a rough answer to this question, the manager now, with a squeak of his polished boots, took a few determined steps in the next room. From the neighboring room on the right Gregor’s sister was whispering to inform him: “Gregor, your manager is here.”
    “I know,” purred Gregor to himself. But he did not dare make his voice loud enough so that his sister could hear.
    “Gregor,” his father now said from the neighboring room on the left, “your manager has come and is asking why you have not left on the early train. We don’t know what we should tell him. Besides, he also wants to speak to you personally. So please open the door. He will be good enough to forgive the mess in your room.”
    In the middle of all this, the manager called out in a friendly way, “Good morning, Mr. Samsa.”
    “He is not well,” said his mother to the manager, while his father was still talking at the door. “He is not well, sir, believe me. Otherwise how would Gregor miss a train? The boy has nothing in his head except business. I’m almost angry that he never goes out at night. Right now he’s been in the city eight days, but he’s come home every evening. He sits here with us at the table and reads the newspaper quietly or studies his travel schedules. It’s a quite a diversion for him to busy himself with fretwork. For instance, he framed a small picture over the course of two or three evenings. You’d be amazed how pretty it is. It’s hanging right inside the room. You’ll see it immediately, as soon as Gregor opens the door. Anyway, I’m happy you’re here, good sir. By ourselves, we would never have made Gregor open the door. He’s so stubborn, and he’s certainly not well, although hedenied that this morning.”
    “I’m coming right away,” Gregor said slowly and deliberately and didn’t move, so as not to lose one word of the conversation.
    “My dear lady,” his manager was saying, “I cannot explain it to myself in any other way. I hope it is nothing serious. On the other hand, I must also say that we business people, luckily or unluckily, however one looks at it, very often simply have to overcome a slight indisposition for business reasons.”
    “So can the manager come in to see you now?” asked his father impatiently and knocked once again on the door. “No,” said Gregor. In the neighboring room on the left a painful stillness descended. In the neighboring room on the right his sister began to sob.
    Why didn’t his sister go to the others? She’d probably just gotten up out of bed now and hadn’t even started to get dressed yet. Then why was she crying? Because he wasn’t getting up and wasn’t letting the manager in? Because he was in danger of losing his position, and because then his boss would badger his parents again with the old demands? Those were probably unnecessary worries right now. Gregor was still here and wasn’t thinking at all about abandoning his family. At the moment he was lying right there on the carpet, and no one who knew about his condition would’ve seriously demanded that he letthe manager in. But Gregor wouldn’t be casually fired right away because of this small discourtesy, for which he would find an easy and suitable excuse later on. It seemed to Gregor that it might be far more