"The Trouble with Mating Season" by Lisa Williams Kline

 – helpmates attacked by worry and worse

Musing a cacophony of troubles is interrupted by the possibility of the unthinkable.

Lisa Williams Kline has published a number of short stories and essays in various literary magazines, as well as a collection called Take Me (Main Street Rag). She has won the Press 53 Fiction Open Award and honorable mention in the Glimmer Train Winter Fiction Open. She’s also published eleven books for young readers. She lives in Davidson, North Carolina, with her husband, who is a retired veterinarian, a cat who can open doors, and a sweet chihuahua who hardly ever barks.

Author’s Talk

Lisa Williams Kline

When I was young, I didn’t think old people had troubles. I pictured them sitting on the porch rocking their free time away. I thought all the real problems belonged to those of us who were young, seeking our identity, seeking a partner, seeking a rewarding life’s work. Now that I am in my 60’s, I see how foolish I was. The most demanding troubles of our lives can hit us in our older years.

I grew up in Winston-Salem, near the Wake Forest Campus where my dad taught Physics. I didn’t inherit his ability for science, but he did tell me that when he was in high school, he wanted to be a journalist, so perhaps my desire to write came from him. My mom taught History in the Forsyth County High Schools and was in the forefront of integration of the schools when I was young, of which I am very proud. Both of my parents were incredible role models. My father died in 2015, and my mother passed away in 2020. I was the primary caretaker.

My husband’s mother, 95, is still with us, and beginning to show signs of dementia, which both of my parents also had. She is up in Maryland, and my husband's sister and her family have been the primary caretakers, but we have been trying, since my mother passed away, to help more.

Jeff and I, married for 36 years, have two daughters whom we of course love immensely. Both having waited longer than most, are marrying this year. With Covid, this has been a challenge. One chose to delay her wedding for a year. The other chose a micro-wedding. We’ve been going with the flow.

My husband and I, in our sixties, of course also have begun to have the odd ache and pain. We’ve had a few serious health issues, but we have had an easy life in comparison to many.

When I saw the Personal Stories call for entries, the idea of all the ordinary trouble that can assault folks in their 60’s hit home. I had just started thinking about writing an essay when something freakishly scary happened to my husband.

And that’s what my story is about.  — Lisa Williams Kline