Give It Up
by Franz Kafka

It was very early in the morning, the streets clean and empty, I was going to the station. As I compared my watch with the clock on a tower I saw that it was much later than I had thought, I had to make great haste; in my alarm at this discovery, I became unsure of the way. I was still something of a stranger in this town. Luckily, there was a policeman at hand; I ran up to him and breathlessly asked him the way. He smiled and said: "Do you expect me to tell you the way?"
"Yes," I said, "since I cannot find it myself."
"Give it up, give it up!" said he, and he turned away with a great flourish, like a man who wants to be alone with his laughter.