Page 76 - the-metamorphosis

lodgers slowly but steadily made their way down the long
staircase, disappeared on each floor in a certain turn of the
stairwell and in a few seconds came out again. The deep-
er they proceeded, the more the Samsa family lost interest
in them, and when a butcher with a tray on his head come
to meet them and then with a proud bearing ascended the
stairs high above them, Mr. Samsa., together with the wom-
en, left the banister, and they all returned, as if relieved,
back into their apartment.
They decided to pass that day resting and going for a
stroll. Not only had they earned this break from work, but
there was no question that they really needed it. And so they
sat down at the table and wrote three letters of apology: Mr.
Samsa to his supervisor, Mrs. Samsa to her client, and Grete
to her proprietor. During the writing the cleaning woman
came in to say that she was going off, for her morning work
was finished. The three people writing at first merely nod-
ded, without glancing up. Only when the cleaning woman
was still unwilling to depart, did they look up angrily. ‘Well?’
asked Mr. Samsa. The cleaning woman stood smiling in the
doorway, as if she had a great stroke of luck to report to the
family but would only do it if she was asked directly. The
almost upright small ostrich feather in her hat, which had
irritated Mr. Samsa during her entire service, swayed light-
ly in all directions. ‘All right then, what do you really want?’
asked Mrs. Samsa, whom the cleaning lady still usually re-
spected. ‘Well,’ answered the cleaning woman (smiling so
happily she couldn’t go on speaking right away), ‘about how
that rubbish from the next room should be thrown out, you