The Love Bite

A Romantic Comedy Short Story by Award-Winning Author Andrew Biss

"If you go down to the woods today,
You're sure of a big surprise."

Roger and Caroline's relationship had been a rather formal, awkward affair up to this point. Their inherent buttoned-up Englishness meant that neither of them felt comfortable expressing their feelings in anything but the politest of terms.

That was about to change.

A weekend camping trip seemed to Roger to be an ideal way to escape the hubbub of the city and get back to basics, despite Caroline's distaste for anything but the highlife. But for these two townies, the great outdoors proved to be far more challenging than they'd anticipated, and when Caroline steps away to relieve herself in a more private area, terror strikes when she's convinced she's been bitten by a snake...also in a private area.

Too far from help, Roger attempts to save her life in the only way he knows how, sending Caroline reeling from desperation to exultation, and inadvertently shifting their relationship to a level of intimacy that had once seemed beyond their grasp.