Chapter 12 Chapter Twelve

The next morning, they didn't wake up until the elementary school students came to the classroom. The students watched the people lying on the ground with wide eyes.It was an unseemly sight, because it was hot in the room, so they took off everything but their shirts, but now in the morning, when the heat had gone, they felt the chill, and just as they were about to put on their clothes, Keisa , the slender, beautiful, but somewhat stiff young female teacher appeared at the door.Evidently she had come to trouble the new concierge, and seemed also to have been instructed by another teacher, for as soon as K. was at the door she said: "I can't bear this situation. Really." That's brilliant. You can sleep in the classroom, that's all you're allowed to do; I'm not obliged to teach in your bedrooms. The janitor's family, lounging in bed till daybreak! Speech!" , there are certain things that one should complain about, especially the house and the beds, K thought, and Frieda—the two assistants were of no use at all, would just lie on the floor and stare at the governess in amazement. And the students—helped to drag the parallel bars and wooden horses away, and put a blanket over them, so that a small area was set aside, at least they could hide from the eyes of the students and wear clothes inside.But he could not have a minute's peace, because the governess began to scold him again for the lack of water in the wash-basin, which he had intended to use for himself and Frieda, but now he had to give up the idea at once. so as not to irritate the teacher too much, but his restraint was in vain, for a crash was heard immediately; too bad, it seems they forgot to clean up the mess on the teacher's table, so she used a ruler knocked everything on the table; she didn't have to worry about what to do with the sardine oil and leftover coffee and the smashed coffee pot, the janitor would clear them up in no time. . K. and Frieda got dressed, leaned on the parallel bars, and watched helplessly as their few possessions were destroyed.The two assistants obviously didn't want to get dressed yet, and their heads peeked out from under a layer of blankets on the ground, much to the delight of the children.What hurt Frieda most was, of course, the breaking of the coffee pot; after K. comforted her and assured her that he would immediately go to the village chief to demand compensation for the damage and that he would be responsible for doing so on the spot, she did not break it. Pulling himself together, wearing only shirt and skirt, he rushed out of his hiding place to salvage the tablecloth, at least from getting it stained again.Although the female teacher still put on a nervous look and kept beating the table with a ruler to frighten her, she snatched the tablecloth.After K. and Frieda had dressed themselves, they had to force the assistants—who seemed taken aback by what they saw—to put on their clothes, not only ordering and urging them to put them on, but actually several pieces of clothes. Still helped them put it on.When everything was ready, K. distributed the rest of the work; he sent his assistants to get wood to light the stove, but first he had to do it in the other classroom, where another, greater danger threatened him, because The teacher himself may already be in that classroom.It was Frieda's job to wash the floors, while K himself fetched her fresh water and tidied up the general things.For now, forget about breakfast.In order to ascertain the attitude of the governesses, K. decided to go out of their little world first, and the rest to wait for his call; he took this measure partly because he did not want to let the assistants do it. If he did anything stupid, he would compromise with the current situation in advance. On the other hand, he was taking care of Frieda and wanted to let her rest as much as possible; because Frieda still had extravagant expectations, but he did not, she was very sensitive, and He wasn't at all, she was only thinking of some trivial troubles in front of her, but he was thinking of Barnabas and their future.Frieda never ignored a word he said, and her eyes almost never left him.As soon as he appeared, the governess exclaimed amidst the unceasing laughter of the children: "Did you sleep well?" She saw that K. ignored her--because it was not really a question-- As he started tidying up the washbasin, he asked, "What have you done to my cat?" A big, fat old cat was lying lazily on the table, and the female teacher was examining all of its parts. There was only one paw, and that paw was obviously slightly injured.So, after all, Frieda was right, and of course the cat didn't jump on her because it was past the jumping period, but it must have crawled on her when it saw When there were so many people in the empty room, he was terrified, and hid hastily, for he was too lazy to escape hastily, and fell and hurt himself. K explained this to the governess as calmly as possible, but all she could see was the old cat being hurt, so she replied: "Well, then, that's why you came here. Look here," she said. Telling K. to go over to the table, she held up the paw to show him, and before he could see what was going on, she hit him on the back of the hand with a leather stick, the end of which, of course, was not there. It was sharp, but because she didn't need to worry about the cat this time, she whipped hard, and several bloodstains were drawn out. "Now you go about your work," she said impatiently, looking down at the cat again.Frieda and her assistants had been watching from behind the parallel bars, and when they saw the blood, they screamed. K. raised his hand and said to the children: "Look, that wicked, cunning cat has caught me like this." He didn't mean to say this to the children, because they kept shouting and laughing. There is no stopping, no stimulation is needed anymore, and nothing can suppress their voices or have any effect on them.He said this because he saw that the governess glanced at his scar as an apology, and then turned her attention to her cat; And disappeared, so K called Frieda and the assistants to come out, and the work began.

Just as K was emptying out the sewage in the bucket and was about to go out of the classroom to fetch clean water, a boy of about twelve years old walked up from his desk, touched K's hand, and said something, but K. could not catch him in the uproar.Then suddenly the uproar stopped, K. looked back, and what he had been dreading all morning had happened.The teacher was standing at the door of the classroom.The diminutive fellow grabbed an assistant by the neck with one hand.It seemed that he caught them just as they were getting wood, for he began to shout loudly, syllables: "Who dared to break into the wood-house? Where is the rascal? I'll kill him." Frieda, who was already washing the floor at the teacher's feet, got up hastily from the floor and glanced at K., as if trying to gain a little courage from him, and her old boldness was again reflected in her look and attitude. and she said, "I did it, Mr. Teacher. I can't think of any other way. If the fire should be lit in the classroom sooner, the woodshed will have to be turned on; I dare not ask you in the middle of the night." Asked for the key, my fiancé was still at the Herrenhof Hotel, maybe he might have spent the night there too, so I'd have to make my own way. If I'm wrong, forgive my inexperience; my fiancé knows I've had enough of complaining to him about it. Yes, he didn't even let me light the stove early in the morning, because he thought he knew from the fact that you locked the woodshed that you were going The stove was not turned on until later. Therefore, it is his fault for not lighting the stove, and it is my fault for breaking into the woodshed." "Who broke down the door of the woodshed?" The teacher turned to the two assistants. , They were still struggling in vain to break free from his grasp. "Master did it," they both replied, pointing to K. to show their certainty.Frieda laughed, her laughter seemed more definite than her words; then she wrung out from the bucket the rag with which she had been mopping the floor, as if her statement had ended the matter. In the interlude, the confession of the two assistants was just an inappropriate joke.It was only when she knelt down to wipe the floor again that she added: "Our assistants are only children, and they should go to school at their age. Last night, I did indeed lock the door with an axe." Broke it open, no trouble at all, I don't need helpers at all, maybe they just give me trouble. But when my fiancé came back late at night, he ran out to check the smashed door, trying to fix it It, the two assistants ran out with him, probably because they didn't dare to stay here alone, so they saw my fiancé cleaning up the broken door, so they said that now... But they are just children . . . "Indeed, while Frieda was making up her story, the two assistants kept shaking their heads and pointing at K., trying to interrupt her with this pantomime; As a result, they had to give in in the end, taking what Frieda said as an order to be obeyed, so when the teacher questioned them again, they stopped answering. "So," said the teacher, "are you lying? Or at least you are falsely accusing the porter?" They still did not bite, but their trembling looks and disturbed eyes seemed to indicate that they had committed a crime. guilty. "Then I'll give you a good beating right away," he said, and sent one of the boys to get his stick in the next room.When he was about to hit him with a stick, Frieda cried out: "The assistants are telling the truth!" She threw the rag into the bucket in disappointment, splashed it, and ran behind the parallel bars. Hiding." A liar! "The female teacher criticized that she had just bandaged the cat's paw and held it on her lap, and the cat was too big to fit on her lap.

"So it was the porter who did it," said the teacher, pushing the two assistants away and turning towards K., who was leaning on the handle of the broom and listening." What a concierge, you don't have the guts to admit it yourself, but let someone else make a lie to cover your own crime." "Well," said K., not letting go of the fact that Frieda's words had already softened the teacher's first words. That irresistible anger, "If these two assistants have tasted a little bit of sticks, I will not regret it; if they escaped ten times their due punishment, then it would be better to give them one generational punishment." Quite rightly so. And besides, this way, Mr. Teacher, it also avoids a direct confrontation between me and you, which is welcome to me. Perhaps you are welcome as well. However, now I Seeing that Frieda has sacrificed me for these two assistants..." K paused at this point, and heard Frieda weeping behind the scenes in the silence, "Of course, all this is entirely due to her Innocent mind." "It's nothing!" said the governess. "I totally agree with you, Miss Keisa," said the teacher. "As for you, janitor, you are naturally relieved of your position after you have done these shameful things. At the same time, I reserve the right to further punish you, but now, you and your family members must leave this school for me immediately. As far as we are concerned, it is undoubtedly a heavy burden, and we have to find a way to attend the class. You go away quickly." "I don't intend to move from here," said K., "you are my superior, but You were not the one who hired me for this position; I was hired by the village chief, and I only accept his dismissal, and he never gave me this position so that I and my family could come here to suffer the cold, but Yes--as you yourself told me--to do anything reckless to win me. Therefore, it is quite against his will to dismiss me now suddenly; unless he tells me himself that he has changed Otherwise, I would never believe you. And it may be to your great advantage that I do not accept notice of your hasty decision." "Aren't you going to accept, then?" asked the teacher. K shook his head. "You should think about it," said the teacher, "your decisions are not always infallible; you should reflect on, say, your refusal to be examined yesterday afternoon." "Now you bring up the matter What for?" asked K. "Because it was a passing moment of mine," answered the teacher, "and now I say it for the last time, get out!" But seeing that it had no effect, the teacher went over to the table to discuss it in a low voice with Miss Keisa; Called the police, but the teacher objected, and finally they seemed to agree, and the teacher ordered the children to go to his classroom, where they could join the other children.This change pleased everyone, and in a moment, with a sound of laughter, the children ran out of the room, the teacher and Miss Keisa being the last to go out.Qisha was holding the roll call book for class in her hand, on which lay the old cat who didn't care about anything.The teacher had wanted to keep the cat, but when Keisa reminded him of K.'s cruelty to livestock, he changed his mind without hesitation.So the teacher, besides other things that annoyed him, now reprimanded K. for the cat.When he reached the door, he said these last words to K.: "The lady and her pupils were forced to leave this room because you refused to accept my dismissal notice, but no one will." You can't ask her, such a young girl, to teach in your dirty domestic disputes. So go ahead and do as much as you like, no one in good standing will come against you or interfere with you Yes. But I tell you, it won't last long." Then he slammed the door shut.