During a storm watch, the natural tendency of human beings is to go outside their homes, as though out of a subconscious desire to enjoy good weather while it lasts, as though hoping that the sun would pledge security and continue shining on them.

It is the same burning desire that a prisoner feels on the eve of his execution.

It is an Eros impulse--a primal insistence on asserting one's potency, on disseminating progeny, on assuring oneself of the tangible reality of one's body and all its capabilities.

It is, also, a yearning to be remembered by the world should death overcome them.