“Making Love” by Antonya Nelson

A story by faculty member Antonya Nelson appears at Oxford American:

“What is it saying?”

“What is what saying?”

“That annoying bird, hear it?”

She’d been awake a long time waiting for him. Finally she could not help herself and began talking—just like the bird, unable to keep still—and the man beside her propped himself up—a wave of his warm naked scent passed over Angela, replete, arousing. Between them swayed the metal dog tag hanging from his neck. It informed anyone who knew or wished to consult it that he was an epileptic. His first sexual experience, Angela remembered suddenly from last night’s scattershot conversation, had ended in a seizure. “I don’t know you well enough yet to tell you how much of a mess that made of my life,” he’d added.

Continue reading online…