Barn swallows twitter-warble their declarations. From a darkened corner of the hayloft, I hear their bird-love songs, aching for my wife. I can almost feel her warm breath in that space between my neck and shoulder. My heart, kitten-tiny now, thumps rapidly.

I’d give anything to be a man again.

Margaret MacInnis lives, writes, and raises her daughter in Iowa City. Her work has been published widely, most recently in Brevity, Diagram, Ghost Parachute, The Rye Whiskey Review, and Thrush. She is working on a novel and a novella-in-flash, LIFE AS JAKE, MY WIFE’S THREE-LEGGED CAT.