From The Canary by Juan José Millás

"Coughing, I lifted my hand to my mouth but not before noticing that some foreign body had managed to enter it. Taking pains not to be observed, I glanced furtively and discovered that my mouth now swarmed with a host of diminutive old ladies, their skirts rumpled. Surreptitiously, I gathered them all and put them in my jacket pocket."

Translated by Peter Robertson