Hagard

A man, stands at the entrance of a department store during the after-work rush hour, and suddenly decides to follow a woman on a whim. He doesn’t know her, he only sees her from behind, but like in a game he says to himself: If she goes this way, I won’t follow her any further; if she goes the other way, I’ll play the game for a little while longer. It doesn’t mean anything, nobody gets hurt, and the distance in the crowd is so great that the woman won’t even notice. It is a funny game not to try to lose her in the crowd. What moves him is unclear at first. Is the pursuer simply a bored snob? A madman? A criminal? He seems to be fleeing from something himself. Something threatening is in the air, something compulsive. A breathless maelstrom develops, and the reader gets sucked deeper and deeper the longer the pursuit continues.