Lydia Davis: A Strange Impulse

A Strange Impulse

I looked down on the street from my window. The sun shone and the shopkeepers had come out to stand in the warmth and watch the people go by. But why were the shopkeepers covering their ears? And why were the people in the street running as if pursued by a terrible specter? Soon everything returned to normal: the incident had benn no more than a moment of madness during which the people could not bear the frustration of their lives and had given way to a strange impulse.