The WInd

Joseph K.’s plan for the day was to go to the courthouse and examine as many of the law books as possible. He felt that perhaps by doing so, he could learn why it was that he was interrogated. K. took the route he often had walked in order to get to the court-house. He made it a point not to look any passers-by in the eye. He didn’t want to be distracted by conversation, allowing him less time to research his case.

To his surprise, the streets were practically bare. K. paused for a moment to survey the area around him, confirming his initial thought that there were, in fact, no people in the streets. The wind seemed to whisper something in K.’s ear. He turned his head as if to catch the wind at a better angle. He noticed instead, a whirlwind whirring down the barren street.

K. slowly walked away from the whirlwind. He thought that it would be best to avoid it as much as possible. He turned the last corner without catching the whirlwind’s attention. The courthouse was in view. The wind whipped K.’s shoulder, nearly making him lose his footing. He turned around and saw that this gust of wind had become another whirlwind altogether. The wind was so strong. At first, K. thought a man had bumped his shoulder.

K. looked around and saw that there were a number of whirlwinds whirring in all directions. Before continuing on to the courthouse, K. paused for a moment to make sure there were no other whirlwinds nearby. The wind itself though, had increased in speed. The shrieking of the whirlwinds became so loud that K. was sure that the noise was piercing his eardrum. The wind seemed to be getting louder each time he turned his head in surveillance. Shrieks of wind whirled by. The strength of the wind made it difficult for K. to walk.

K. was forced to close his now watering eyes in an attempt to block the wind. The weather seemed to become hurricane like. K.’s face felt as though it would crack into pieces if he did not shield himself from the wind. He lifted his arm above his face and proceeded to the direction where he last remembered the courthouse door to be, peeking over his arm every now and then to see that he was headed in the right direction. He grabbed onto the railing of the huge staircase in order to balance himself against the wind.

“Please,” K. shivered. “You must let me in! I shall freeze.” K. banged repeatedly upon the locked door. “Let me in at once!” K. begged through chattering teeth. K. was sure that his fingers had bled by now through his gloves. His skin was so dry. He felt as though the skin on his knuckles would burst from his desperate banging on the large wooden door.

He began to speak to himself. “I am sure that my must be frozen by now. I am sure that someone must be in the courthouse. I was once there on a Sunday. Surely they are open now. The wind is so cold. I can hardly keep my eyes open enough to see that there is a door before me. It would be impossible to walk against this strong wind to return home, or my office for that matter.” Joseph K.’s frustrations were slowly being replaced by the need to crawl into the fetal position, so that the heat of his body could reach its full heating potential.

As K. crawled into this action, he heard a strange chirping. It was a sound similar to that of birds, but quite a bit distorted. As he looked above his head to see what was making this noise, he noticed a gaggle of birds, that looked much like geese, flying in an odd V formation. Suddenly, a bird fell dead upon K.’s head. K. fell unconscious into a position similar to that which he had been contemplating.