” He felt a slight itch up on his belly; pushed him­self slowly up on his back to­wards the head­board so that he could lift his head bet­ter; found where the itch was, and saw that it was cov­ered with lots of lit­tle white spots which he did­n’t know what to make of; and when he tried to feel the place with one of his legs he drew it quickly back be­cause as soon as he touched it he was over­come by a cold shudder.

He slid back into his for­mer po­si­tion. „Get­ting up early all the time”, he thought, „it makes you stu­pid. You’ve got to get enough sleep. Other trav­el­ling sales­men live a life of luxury.

For in­stance, when­ever I go back to the guest house dur­ing the morn­ing to copy out the con­tract, these gen­tle­men are al­ways still sit­ting there eat­ing their break­fasts. I ought to just try that with my boss; I’d get kicked out on the spot. But who knows, maybe that would be the best thing for me.

If I did­n’t have my par­ents to think about I’d have given in my no­tice a long time ago, I’d have gone up to the boss and told him just what I think, tell him every­thing I would, let him know just what I feel. He’d fall right off his desk! And it’s a funny sort of busi­ness to be sit­ting up there at your desk, talk­ing down at your sub­or­di­nates from up there, es­pe­cially when you have to go right up close be­cause the boss is hard of hear­ing. Well, there’s still some hope; once I’ve got the money to­gether to pay off my par­ents’ debt to him - an­other five or six years I sup­pose - that’s def­i­nitely what I’ll do. That’s when I’ll make the big change. First of