First Marriage

Two newlyweds cross the Arizona desert, caught between fragile devotion and an unglamorous trouble they cannot outrun.

In this story from Kevin Moffett's dazzling new collection, Further Interpretations of Real-Life Events, a honeymooning couple in Arizona faces the vast future ahead of them—and the immediate problem of a dead animal stinking up their rental car.

Stranded in a Bisbee trailer court, they look for romance among atomic-print pillows—even as mechanics dismantle the seats to fight the relentless stench. Amy snaps disposable-camera snapshots of roadside bluffs and dries her bridal bouquet on the dashboard, trying to anchor a trip that feels increasingly unmoored.

Tad jots declarations of victory into the motel guestbook—retreating to a cemetery bench with a six-pack while Amy sleeps through the desert night.

This meditation on marriage, commitment, and all that we give to and keep from those we love comes with equal parts heartbreak and bone-dry humor.
Forced Proximity: Crossing the country in a stranger’s Volvo on a strict eight-day schedule leaves two newlyweds trapped together with their unspoken uncertainties.Small Town Setting: A prolonged breakdown in Bisbee leads the couple through an underground copper mine tour and an abandoned hillside shrine covered in faded school pictures.Dark Comedy: Between listening to vintage radio shows about solitary men and enduring the mechanics’ offbeat theories, mundane misadventures constantly undercut their romantic plans.Short Story Collections: Sourced from Kevin Moffett’s volume, this standalone story captures the bittersweet friction of young love when a late-night phone call to Florida shatters an easy illusion.