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November 2009

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Abstract –

She clung to him as if she wanted their cells to merge, and she keened—because it seemed like the end, and tragic; or, more tragic, still more tragic, not the end. If I can’t live with you, I’ll die. It’s all I care about. That night, in the midst of it, shocking both of them, he giggled. She lifted her face from his face to see why—could he be making fun of her? Hurt before she looked, looking she saw, no, that wasn’t it at all and kissed his face, and he whispered, “Just listen to me groan!” but didn’t say, Oh, so this is what it’s like, “romance.” This is romance! Well, what a goddamn awful, goddamn foolish thing. Then he turned his face and looked into her eyes again, and tears came to his eyes. “Oh my God, Deborah.” And she: “I know.” Her mantra. “I know.”


About the Author

John J. Clayton teaches modern literature and creative writing at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His third novel, Kuperman’s Fire, and his Wrestling with Angels: New and Collected Stories were published in 2007. His new novel, Adam, Messenger, will be published by Toby Press in 2010. Clayton’s stories have often been published in COMMENTARY. They have also appeared in O. Henry Prize Stories, Best American Short Stories, and Pushcart Prize Stories.

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