They say that marriage is provisional but divorce is perpetual. I've always assumed that like most American aphorisms, this one too was a stale broth of aspirational Yankee fortitude and airless Calvinist moralizing.
Then I learned that the aforementioned phrase is actually French in origin. It was no less of an authority than Alonso Aubigné in his 1847 treatise The Brahmin of Trust who wrote: "mariage est temporaire mais le divorce ne dure éternellement."
And such is the case with my good friend Currado Malaspina.
Despite a civil union lasting all of ninety-seven days, Violetta Malaspina has been demanding, despite the well documented fact that theirs was a divorce sur demande conjointe des époux, (in other words, jointly requested), an usurious settlement that will surely cripple Curado's estate beyond recognition.
For the past fifteen years the estranged couple meet on the first Tuesday of every month at Café Tonton Macoute on Boulevard Douvalier to try to iron out their differences without the intervention of the courts.
Violetta is demanding a full 70% of all of Currado's earnings from 1999 onward claiming that she was the catalyst for his meteoric success. Although he has never denied that his ex-wife served as a model for his notorious Repas Complet series of mixed media drawings, she was only one among several who posed for him during that time.
Additionally, my good friend insists that it was the discovery of his late father's grenier sketchbooks that were the real source of his inspiration.
None of this really seems to matter. These monthly Mardi meetings have become a matter of rote. Despite their toxic underpinnings they have perversely become a kind of welcomed ritual in an otherwise hectic and chaotic life. For the both of these two lost souls, clinging to each other in this noxious pas a deux provides a comfort that can't be replicated elsewhere.
Maybe my dear friend Currado has found the true meaning of boundless unconditional love.
And such is the case with my good friend Currado Malaspina.
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| Currado and Violetta Malaspina in a colorized surveillance photo taken by Violetta's attorney |
For the past fifteen years the estranged couple meet on the first Tuesday of every month at Café Tonton Macoute on Boulevard Douvalier to try to iron out their differences without the intervention of the courts.
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| Repas Complet #32 |
Additionally, my good friend insists that it was the discovery of his late father's grenier sketchbooks that were the real source of his inspiration.
None of this really seems to matter. These monthly Mardi meetings have become a matter of rote. Despite their toxic underpinnings they have perversely become a kind of welcomed ritual in an otherwise hectic and chaotic life. For the both of these two lost souls, clinging to each other in this noxious pas a deux provides a comfort that can't be replicated elsewhere.
Maybe my dear friend Currado has found the true meaning of boundless unconditional love.
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