Janitor

A resident broom-man. The person who scatters the sawdust in elementary school hallways.

“A dog is hard to kill, his spirit clings to life. But my body is broken and battered, it’s taken its share of punishment from people. And the worst of it is that the boiling water he slopped over me ate right through the fur, and now my left side is without protection of any kind. I can very easily contract pneumonia, and once I do, my dear citizens, I’ll die of hunger. With pneumonia, you’re supposed to lie under the stairs in a front hallway. But who will run around for me, a sick bachelor dog, and look for sustenance in garbage heaps? Once my lung is affected, I’ll be crawling on my belly, feeble as a pup, and anyone can knock the daylight out of me with a stick. And then the janitors with their badges will grab me by the feet and throw me on the garbage collector’s cart. Of all the proletarians, janitors are the worst trash. Human dregs—the lowest category.”

Mikhail Bulgakov, Heart of a Dog (1925).

[Translated by Mirra Ginsburg].