It was not intended to be a big wedding. That is, Mr Coldfield seems not to have intended it to be. You will notice that most divorces occur with women who were married by tobacco-chewing j.p.’s in country courthouses or by ministers waked after midnight, with their suspenders showing beneath their coattails and no collar on and a wife or spinster sister in curl papers for witness. So is it too much to believe that these women come to long for divorce from a sense not of incompleteness but of actual frustration and betrayal? that regardless of the breathing evidence of children and all else, they still have in their minds the image of themselves walking to music and turning heads, in all the symbolical trappings and circumstance of ceremonial surrender of that which they no longer possess?
— I left my husband for our dustman
— But he refused to take him...
I know it's the gentlemanly thing to let the wife file. But, then, everybody knows I'm no gentleman.
— No, Lisa. I shouldn't have asked you to come down here. I'm not getting back together with you.
— What are you talking about? W-Why?
— Why? You screwed a scuba diving instructor on our honeymoon. I mean, what kind of cold, heartless bitch... would do that to someone they love? I'd have to be an idiot to get back together with you after that. Oh, and by the way, I destroyed all your little throw pillows. Yeah, because throw pillows suck, okay? They serve no purpose. They're purely decorative.
You reach a certain age, having a roommate is just kind of pathetic.
Your Honor, in the past two months, I've secured a residence, I refurbished that residence. And made it «an environment fit for children». Those are your words. And I'm also holding down a job as a shipping clerk. So I — I believe I met your requirements. Ahead of schedule. In regards to my behavior, I can only plead insanity. Because, ever since my children were born, the moment I looked at them, I was crazy about them. Once I held them, I was hooked. I'm addicted to my children, sir. I love them with all my heart. And the idea of someone telling me I can't be with them, I can't see them every day... It's like someone saying I can't have air. I can't live without air, and I can't live without them. Listen, I would do anything. I just want to be with them. You know I need that, sir. We have a history. And I just... They mean everything to me. And they need me as much as I need them. So, please. Don't take my kids away from me. Thank you.
— You're not in Paris?
— You didn't know? I guess not, 'cos you never call. So why now?
— To touch base.
— Why me? I'll tell you why. 'Cos you don't have the balls to call Mum. 'Cos Léa would make you feel like such a shit...
— That's not it.
— But I'll go easy on you.
— It's not that at all.
— What is it then?
— I miss you all.
— You have no shame?
— Look, nothing will change.
— Yeah, as if.
— You're all mad at me, but later...
— What about later? We'll get used to it, right? In Syria, they got used to being bombed. In Africa, they got used to AIDS. So why wouldn't we get used to this? After all? Anything else? No? Okay, see you.
— Why are they fighting?
— They're not fighting. They're discussing.
— I'm a child of divorce, Dad. I know the difference.
— You're overthinking this. When your dog dies, you don't make a list. You bury him, plant a shrub on top, tell the kids he's running around a farm, and move on.
— That's actually a very apt metaphor. My failed marriage is like a dead dog. But it serves as fertilizer for the shrub, which represents my new life. So if I try to revitalize the marriage... You know, digging up the dog... then I'm killing the shrub, which is me.
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