{"id":"01KG2TRA9NN5RK4G0859WJSZ0W","cid":"bafkreiccmhd2k4zkjqcwjeaet3lmshzof3bwivhvpwgfdlest66beowzbu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":468,"extracted_at":"2026-01-28T17:34:53.075Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 9","source_file":"01KG2T4R8J3C5MCD884PSP9QX4","start_line":419,"text":"coughed a little, but taking care to do this not too loudly as even\r\nthis might well sound different from the way that a human coughs and he\r\nwas no longer sure he could judge this for himself. Meanwhile, it had\r\nbecome very quiet in the next room. Perhaps his parents were sat at the\r\ntable whispering with the chief clerk, or perhaps they were all pressed\r\nagainst the door and listening.\r\n\r\nGregor slowly pushed his way over to the door with the chair. Once\r\nthere he let go of it and threw himself onto the door, holding himself\r\nupright against it using the adhesive on the tips of his legs. He\r\nrested there a little while to recover from the effort involved and\r\nthen set himself to the task of turning the key in the lock with his\r\nmouth. He seemed, unfortunately, to have no proper teeth—how was he,\r\nthen, to grasp the key?—but the lack of teeth was, of course, made up\r\nfor with a very strong jaw; using the jaw, he really was able to start\r\nthe key turning, ignoring the fact that he must have been causing some\r\nkind of damage as a brown fluid came from his mouth, flowed over the\r\nkey and dripped onto the floor. “Listen”, said the chief clerk in the\r\nnext room, “he’s turning the key.” Gregor was greatly encouraged by\r\nthis; but they all should have been calling to him, his father and his\r\nmother too: “Well done, Gregor”, they should have cried, “keep at it,\r\nkeep hold of the lock!” And with the idea that they were all excitedly\r\nfollowing his efforts, he bit on the key with all his strength, paying\r\nno attention to the pain he was causing himself. As the key turned\r\nround he turned around the lock with it, only holding himself upright\r\nwith his mouth, and hung onto the key or pushed it down again with the\r\nwhole weight of his body as needed. The clear sound of the lock as it\r\nsnapped back was Gregor’s sign that he could break his concentration,\r\nand as he regained his breath he said to himself: “So, I didn’t need\r\nthe locksmith after all”. Then he lay his head on the handle of the\r\ndoor to open it completely.\r\n\r\nBecause he had to open the door in this way, it was already wide open\r\nbefore he could be seen. He had first to slowly turn himself around one\r\nof the double doors, and he had to do it very carefully if he did not\r\nwant to fall flat on his back before entering the room. He was still\r\noccupied with this difficult movement, unable to pay attention to\r\nanything else, when he heard the chief clerk exclaim a loud “Oh!”,\r\nwhich sounded like the soughing of the wind. Now he also saw him—he was\r\nthe nearest to the door—his hand pressed against his open mouth and\r\nslowly retreating as if driven by a steady and invisible force.\r\nGregor’s mother, her hair still dishevelled from bed despite the chief\r\nclerk’s being there, looked at his father. Then she unfolded her arms,\r\ntook two steps forward towards Gregor and sank down onto the floor into\r\nher skirts that spread themselves out around her as her head\r\ndisappeared down onto her breast. His father looked hostile, and\r\nclenched his fists as if wanting to knock Gregor back into his room.\r\nThen he looked uncertainly round the living room, covered his eyes with\r\nhis hands and wept so that his powerful chest shook.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 9"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG2TQ7C07TQ4DQ7SE7BN1MQ3","peer_label":"I","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG2T4R8J3C5MCD884PSP9QX4","peer_label":"metamorphoses.txt","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_label":"Test Collection","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG2TR9E65M3DW7NN7FS264KZ","peer_label":"Chunk 8","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG2TR9EQ7AYC1PE1PMD94P9C","peer_label":"Chunk 10","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-28T17:34:54.962Z","ts":"2026-01-28T17:34:56.193Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}