This is a very distant relative of “coitus interruptus”…

You’ve seen it before. Hero and heroine are playing a serious game of tongue hockey. It’s … ummmm …. maybe less than halfway through the book (or movie). It’s too soon for them to go all the way, in fact, it’s probably their first make out scene. So you know what’s coming next.

Second-base interruptus. As in, Remy McSwain (Dennis Quaid) and Anne Osborne (Ellen Barkin) in The Big Easy. You know the scene I’m talking about? Yeah, that scene. From the beginning, Remy and Anne’s sexual chemistry sizzled. And when Remy finally gets her into his bed, they come thisclose to doing the deed, but then …. the phone rings, or maybe it was somebody’s beeper. I can’t remember. Anyway, it’s Remy’s office calling.

Another dead body just turned up.

Game over.

For now.

This is a well-worn device writers use (romance writers especially) to douse the flames—via ice water. So my question dear writers is this:

What’s the lamest “Interruptus” device you’ve seen in fiction or on film? And what about your own stories? How do you bring the sex train to a screeching halt in order to delay the inevitable for a little while longer?

I’ve seen babies used to death (truth and fiction are in sync here). But has anyone ever come up with anything unique or silly? Like an alien invasion or Armageddon?