Deborah K. Shepherd

In Short – Issue 2 (Winter 2025)

January 31, 2025

A photograph of an old living room with a couch to the left with a yellow quilt on top. There is a coffee table in front of it. In the right corner of the room there is an entertainment center with a television on top and two speakers on either side.

Image credit: Dejan Krsmanovic

Septuagenarian Sex in the Summer of our Discontent

By Deborah K. Shepherd

We made love on the couch last night.

I drew the line at leaving the TV on, but the old dog with cancer was asleep, nestled into my other side, so we let her be, where she continued to snore, undisturbed by the writhing and the sighs.

Maybe she thought we were just watching the news.

Deborah K. Shepherd (she/her) is a retired social worker who spent her career working with survivors of interpersonal violence. She is the author of the novel, So Happy Together, published by She Writes Press in 2021. Her memoir, An Old Man's Darling, will be published by Heliotrope Books in 2026. Deborah's writing has appeared in Herstry, Fauxmoir, Motherwell, Oldster Magazine, and other publications. Mother of two and grandmother of two, she lives with one husband and one rescue dog on the coast of Maine.