Patrick Hart
In the Hallowed Halls of Justice
The man sat on one of the long wooden benches, which lined the outside wall of the corridor, and stared down the hall without being able to figure out what exactly he was looking for. Meanwhile his upper lip twitched slightly, and his hands seemed unable to stop fiddling with the papers on his lap. However, he did not find it surprising that he was feeling restless. These seats were not very comfortable, and right now he would have preferred to have been just about anywhere else in the world than here.
Steve was dressed in a white button-down shirt, a yellow tie, and a green nylon jacket, which he had unzipped when he had entered the building. He was also wearing dark socks and black leather dress shoes. These were the type of clothes he wore to the office each day, and he had assumed that they would be appropriate for the courthouse as well. Most of the people in the hall though appeared to be dressed in jeans, sweatshirts, and sneakers, which made him feel out of place in his less casual outfit. Furthermore, the fact that he was here to learn the fate of his marriage had already turned him into a nervous wreck.
Six months earlier the man’s wife had asked for a divorce, and after their eighteen years together, her request had devastated him. He loved his family, and being a husband and a father was probably what he considered the most important part of his life. However, when he thought about it, he realized that he was largely to blame for the fire having faded from their relationship. For the prior two years his employer had been experiencing financial problems, and after putting in long hours at work trying to save his job, by the time he came home at night, he was usually too worn out and grumpy to pay sufficient attention to his family. Obviously, he should have figured out sooner that he could not continue this type of behavior indefinitely without producing some type of negative consequences.
Admitting his shortcomings though had hardly made it easy to face the consequences, and Steve had been afraid that if he tried to defend himself, he might lose his temper. So instead he had listened in near silence, while Linda had explained her desire to end their marriage, and the next day he had moved out of the house. Then without waiting to be asked, he had googled the Illinois child support guidelines. With his accounting background he had easily understood the formula, and beginning with his next paycheck, he had started sending his wife twenty-eight percent of his net income every two weeks.
A month later, the woman had commenced legal proceedings, and today after a lot of back and forth bargaining, the court had scheduled what was known as a pretrial. As Steve’s attorney, Bob Kloss, had explained it, a pretrial is an informal session, at which the judge offers the parties advice on how to resolve any remaining disputes. Technically his honor is only making recommendations, which means that either spouse can still insist on a trial. However, once a judge has weighed in on a matter, most couples figure out that attempting to change his mind is roughly equivalent to pushing a hundred-pound boulder uphill, and at this point many husbands and wives manage to reach an agreement.
Furthermore, knowing that a pretrial is coming frequently persuades the parties to become more determined to finally come to terms, and shortly before this procedure many of them will voluntarily sit down with both lawyers present in an attempt to work out their differences. Again there is no obligation to come to an agreement during these sessions, but if a couple takes the process seriously, this approach tends to produce a more satisfactory settlement than the court would impose after a trial.
Despite some reluctance Steve had agreed to participate in one of these four way meetings ninety minutes prior to the scheduled pretrial, and before they had gotten together with the other side, his lawyer had attempted to go over the issues with him. The man had appeared to be feeling too sullen though to ask any meaningful questions, and concluding that they might as well just get started, his representative had left him alone on the bench, while he had set off in search of his worthy opponent.
A few minutes later Bob reappeared accompanied by two ladies, and wanting to be polite his client stood up. One of them was his wife, a brown haired woman who stood five feet eight inches tall and who had managed to maintain her slender figure into her forties. She also seemed to have the same attitude about proper court attire as her husband, having shown up today in a white blouse, dress khaki slacks, and silver earrings with a matching necklace. Then when she spotted her mate, she gave him a genuine smile, and this reminded him that his feelings for her were hardly dead.
“Hello, Steve,” she said. “How are you this morning?”
The man however had never read the manual on how one should behave toward his spouse in these circumstances, and he was not sure what an appropriate response would be.
“Hi,” he replied.
The other woman was shorter and a bit overweight, and she appeared to be six or seven years younger than Steve and Linda, or somewhere in her mid-thirties. Her smart grey suit and her black briefcase though led the man to assume that this was his wife’s counsel, and when Linda’s greeting identified him, the barrister extended her hand.
“Mr. Walker, I’m Carol Cortesi,” she announced in a cheerful tone, and for a second, Steve sucked in his lower lip.
After the lawyer had spent the last five months advising his wife on how to squeeze a little more blood out of his veins, her friendly overture struck him as a bit inappropriate. However, he tried to tell himself that she was only doing her job, and when he took her hand, he made an unsuccessful attempt to smile.
“Good morning,” he replied, before dropping his arm back to his side and wondering if he was now supposed to engage in a few minutes of small talk with his new acquaintance. Fortunately though, Bob quickly intervened to keep the matter moving.
“I checked, and there’s an empty conference room about twenty feet down the hall,” the attorney said. “Why don’t we grab it and get started?”
“Sounds good to me,” Ms. Cortesi agreed, and turning around she led the way down the corridor.
A minute later they entered a narrow chamber with no windows, four plain off white walls, and a brown rectangular table with a crooked scratch on its surface. Everyone then sat down in one of the green plastic chairs that surrounded the table, and after setting down the papers he was holding, Steve glanced at a cobweb in the corner of the ceiling. A second later though, he decided that he should be making eye contact, and he looked at his wife.
The woman nodded in response, and Steve felt a pit forming in his stomach, as his mind drifted back to that rainy spring evening, when she had first suggested the divorce. He could still recall how much pain her request had caused him, and how even when Linda had mentioned that he had been a good provider and a good father, it had done little to relieve his depression. He had assumed that she had merely said this out of a sense of obligation to show some fairness in this situation, and he had quickly realized that these concessions were not going to persuade her to reconsider her decision.
Before the man sank too deeply into his flashback though, he heard Ms. Cortesi unsnap her briefcase, and taking this as a sign that the discussion was about to start, he switched his vision to the right.
“So,” she began, “I think we’ve made some progress, and hopefully we can put this case to bed without having to take up the judge’s time.”
The wife’s lawyer then set a brown file jacket on top of the table, like she was an insurance salesperson about to make her pitch. Meanwhile the other attorney adjusted his glasses, which seemed to have the habit of sliding forward on his nose, whenever no one was looking.
“That sounds like the best approach,” he concurred. “I know Mr. Walker has been quite generous, and I’d like to reduce the terms to writing, so we can get this case over with.”
Their words sounded positive, and Steve also felt that this meeting should just be a matter of formalizing the terms that he and his wife had pretty much worked out themselves. They had certainly not needed any hired guns to resolve the treatment of their children, which was what he considered the most important issue. The two of them had agreed that the girls would live with their mother, and they had both understood that this meant her husband would continue to pay child support, keep his daughters on his insurance, and pay half of their uncovered medical and dental expenses. Linda had also insisted that their father receive liberal visitation, and that they enter a joint parenting agreement, which would give him equal input in the major decisions affecting their children’s upbringing.
The property division had been trickier, but trying to keep his emotions from taking the driver’s seat, the man had listened to his attorney, and after doing some research on his own, he had made a proposal, which had struck him as at least fair. In other words, while he did not expect to leave his wife on easy street, he was willing to give her slightly more than he thought the court would have awarded her after a trial.
Their most valuable asset was Steve’s 401k plan, and he had recommended that they split this investment equally. He had also offered to let Linda have the title to their residence. The home carried two mortgages, but it still had equity, and this suggestion that his wife receive over half the marital property had felt like a large concession. From what he had read though, this was not unusual with his higher income. Furthermore, he was hoping that by letting Karen and Jenny stay in their home, he would minimize the disruption caused by their parents’ divorce.
Yet despite his efforts to be reasonable, Steve had a nervous feeling that they were not going to have an easy time finalizing the settlement. From their tones of voice, the lawyers sounded like gunfighters from some old Western movie, maneuvering themselves into an ideal stance for the big shoot out; and as he anticipated more accusations and demands, he noticed that he was gritting his teeth.
“Your client has been reasonable for the most part,” Ms. Cortesi acknowledged. “We have to remember though that Linda’s career suffered from her switching to part time work, when the children were younger, which means he needs to give her some compensation for her future lower anticipated income.”
“We’ve covered that,” Bob stated with a slight frown. “That’s why he offered to sign over his interest in the marital residence.”
“But that’s not really an asset,” the woman protested. “With the slow real estate market these days, his wife will be lucky to break even, if she sells the house,” and knowing this was not true, Steve suddenly felt himself growing angry.
By agreement he and his wife had discussed the value of their home with a realtor they both knew, and they had gotten the same information. To Bob’s credit though, he did not intend to let his opponent get away with this misstatement.
“Well Carol,” he told her, “all I have is the report from Beth Miller, at Jansen Real Estate, who has been in the business for more than twenty years. As you know both parties
consented to consult with her, and she estimated that the Walkers would clear $30,000.00, if they sold their house.”
The other lawyer’s eyebrows rose though, and a slight smile appeared on her face, as if to say she did not really believe that the man was being serious.
“Yes, but realtors are sales people, who always think there’s a rainbow just around the corner,” Ms. Cortesi replied, “and it sounds like the place is going to need a few repairs. I certainly wouldn’t count on Linda leaving the closing table with cash.”
Bob shrugged his shoulders in reply though.
“I believe you’re being a bit pessimistic,” he ventured, and then he added what he thought was a clever way to deflate her theory. “But if you’re really in doubt, we could agree to sell the house and let Mrs. Walker have the first $30,000.00 of equity.”
His client though could not believe what he had just heard. After equally dividing his retirement fund, Steve doubted that the judge would have ordered him to give Linda an additional $30,000.00, and until now neither one of them had mentioned any desire to dispose of the house. Rather he had offered to let her keep the residence, because he was concerned about how the divorce would affect their children, and he did not understand why his attorney had suddenly decided to engage in some type of verbal posturing without consulting him first. Furthermore, his wife’s quick reaction made it clear that she was unhappy with this proposal as well.
“You mean you want us to have to leave our home?” she protested directly to her husband. “To make Jenny and Karen move into a new school district and live in an apartment, where they’ll have to share a bedroom?” and the implication of her words caused the man’s throat to go dry.
Linda might want out of the marriage, but she had no basis for claiming that he had shunned his obligation as a father. He had certainly done his share of diaper changing, when his daughters had been infants, and after they had started school, he had helped them with their spelling and math. He had even coached one of their soccer teams for three seasons.
“No one said they would have to leave their home!” he pronounced, trying to stay calm, but he was unable to keep his voice from rising a couple of decibels.
“What do you mean no one said that?” the woman countered. “Your lawyer just proposed it in front of three witnesses!” and Steve felt his face turning red.
He had wanted to tell Bob to forget this offer, as soon as the words had left his mouth, but with his instincts warning him not to show disagreement in front of the enemy, he had held his tongue, and now he was being accused of wanting to hurt his family. Furthermore, Ms. Cortesi was moving in like a shark smelling blood in the water.
“I don’t think anyone believes that selling the house is a good idea,” she asserted, “Especially in this market. What we should be talking about is what we need to do to make Mrs. Walker whole.”
“That’s why we proposed deeding the house to her,” her opponent pronounced.
“Except the place has no equity,” Carol reiterated, and as Bob twitched his lip, Steve thought that he was going to make a powerful rebuttal to this claim.
However, his lawyer hesitated. The wife’s counsel had outmaneuvered him, when he had suggested selling the residence, and apparently feeling backed into a corner, he settled for a weaker comeback.
“I think it does,” he said, but this was hardly enough to regain the momentum.
“Well, you’re entitled to your opinion,” Ms. Cortesi told him, “but we need to stick with what we know for sure. Linda is going to be in a rough position, and it would be a big help, if Mr. Walker would take responsibility for the children’s uninsured medical and dental expenses.”
The husband’s eyebrows rose at this suggestion, and he recalled the unpleasant news, which they had received the prior week. Their younger daughter, Karen, was going to need braces, and if he had to cover all of this expense instead of half the amount, it would indeed be a boon to her mother.
“But that’s not the usual practice,” Bob replied. “Normally parents split those items, and after paying child support, Steve is hardly living in fat city. He can’t even afford to move out of the one room apartment he’s renting.”
This was true, and it was probably a point which the lawyer should have brought up. However, his client flinched at the comment. He had taken the studio, because he had needed to find a place quickly, and he had postponed moving to somewhere nicer, while he tried to put the legal expenses of the divorce behind him. However, he considered this a temporary arrangement, and he did not want to become an object of pity. Furthermore, when he realized that Bob’s remark had not managed to score any points with the other side, he felt even worse.
“Splitting a household in two can require some belt tightening,” Ms. Cortesi stated, sounding like she thought her opponent was being a whiner to bring this up. “But right now, Linda has got to be wondering how she is going to put shoes on her children’s feet, and whether she will be serving hamburger helper every night for dinner. She should at least be able to take them to a doctor, when they need it.”
Steve saw his wife’s face stiffen, and her head gave a silent nod. She was no doubt worried about expenses going forward, and he suddenly felt bad about how the breakdown in their marriage would be affecting her. He knew that Linda was feeling her own set of pressures, and that while her job might only be nine to five, for the last couple of years he had pretty much left her alone to deal with all issues concerning the house and the children. And this had been while their daughters were turning into teenagers, creating the usual challenges associated with this stage of life that drive parents crazy.
At this point Bob adjusted his glasses again, and from past observations, his client assumed this meant that he was about to make a response. Steve though was beginning to suspect that he was about to go crazy, if this discussion did not end, and reaching out, he placed his hand on the lawyer’s sleeve.
“Stop!” he stated, and Bob’s eyes turned in his direction.
“Yes,” he replied.
“I’ll pay the medical expenses,” the man declared.
His lawyer looked perturbed though, and Steve was wondering why a person in his profession had not developed a better poker face.
“I don’t think you have to agree . . .”
“I said, ‘I’ll pay it!’” his client repeated, cutting him off, and at this point Ms. Cortesi gave him a gracious smile.
“Well, I appreciate that,” she replied.
Linda on the other hand appeared a little surprised, and her husband wondered if she had been beginning to accept the theory that he was being a skinflint. After looking him in the eye though, she nodded.
“Thank you,” she told him in what sounded like a sincere voice, and his throat tightened.
It seemed strange that a couple of minutes after accusing him of showing no concern for their children, she was now expressing gratitude. However, with Ms. Cortesi determined to expand on her victory, the man had little chance to analyze his spouse’s behavior.
“All right,” the lawyer resumed. “Now maybe we can talk about Mr. Walker making a contribution toward his wife’s attorney fees,” and this hit Steve like a ton of bricks.
No one had suggested before now that he should pay part of Linda’s costs for the divorce. Nor did it make sense that she would escalate her demands, after he had given in on the previous dispute.
“I don’t think that’s appropriate,” Bob shot back. “Their incomes are not far enough apart for her to be requesting attorney fees,” and noting that he sounded unhappy, Steve suspected that the man was directing some of the anger toward him.
Bob was no doubt upset that his client had caved in on the medical request without an accompanying commitment that his opponent would agree to the rest of his terms, and seeing the way Ms. Cortesi was leaping at this opening, Steve realized that his barrister was probably right.
“I think Mr. Walker earns enough that he could help her out with this expense,” she insisted. “He’s a divisional comptroller after all, and if he agrees to pay $2,500.00 of her attorney fees, Linda would not have to start out with another debt hanging over her head.”
“And you think her husband needs more debt,” Bob came back, and since Steve still owed his own lawyer almost a thousand dollars, he knew the answer to this question should have been “no.”
At this point though Linda looked right at him, as if she had forgotten the two advocates in the room.
“You do have a good job,” she said in a voice that indicated she was reluctant to bring up this point. “And I would think you would be able to pay it off before long.”
Her husband winced at this reasoning, and he felt like telling her that she was going too far. However, her statement had sounded more like a plea for help than an argument, and when he looked in her eyes, he felt an unexpected jolt to his emotions. For eighteen years, he had tried to take care of this woman, and his sense of obligation had not just disappeared with the filing of a few legal papers. Ms. Cortesi though was not going to give him a chance to formulate his thoughts, before she jumped in again.
“Yes, and you would be helping your family out here,” she commented, inspiring Steve to glare at her out of the corner of his eye, and he suspected that he might have exploded, if his lawyer had not hopped to his defense.
“I think Steve has already contributed more than he can reasonably afford,” he declared. “And quite frankly I don’t like your game of adding another demand every time he agrees to something.”
“I’m not adding any more demands,” his adversary assured him. “All Mr. Walker has to do is pay $2,500.00 of his wife’s attorney fees, and I’ll tell the judge we have a deal.”
Bob shook his head though, with the determination of a man, who has drawn a line in the sand.
“The answer is ‘No,” he stated. “Your request for him to pay all of the medical expenses was your last gouge!” but Ms. Cortesi was not backing down.
“You seem to forget that we are talking about the welfare of his children!” she reminded everyone.
There was that guilt card again, and Steve had to fight back the instinct to form his hand into a fist. Then he noticed that the middle button on Ms. Cortesi’s blouse was undone, and somehow this flaw in her attire made her seem even more vicious. He began to think that if he did not give in, the two of them would never leave this room.
“That’s it!” he declared in a sulky voice. “I’ll pay the attorney fees,” and he prayed that this concession would end the discussion.
His lawyer though looked perturbed.
“You don’t have to agree to that,” he insisted, as he turned in his client’s direction. “After everything else you’ve given her, the judge would never order you to pay attorney fees.”
This was clearly a rebuke, and Bob’s attitude added to the husband’s anger. However, he did not look back at his counsel or the other two people in the room. Instead he swallowed his saliva and repeated in a stubborn voice.
“I’ll pay the $2,500.00!” and his wife’s lawyer had no intention of missing this opportunity.
“Then we’re done,” she announced in an upbeat tone. “We can set a date for the prove-up, and I’ll draw the agreement.”
Steve waited a second to see if his attorney was going to offer further argument, but when he remained silent, the husband raised his eyes.
“So, how soon will the court date be?” he asked, and as Bob shrugged his shoulders, his client could tell he was feeling beaten.
However, Steve had a hard time finding sympathy for the man. This was his life they were talking about, and his legal representative needed to follow his instructions.
“The way the court is scheduled these days, we should be able to get a hearing in about two weeks,” Bob responded.
He did not sound happy, but he had delivered the requested information, and after a second he added, “Since you’re the defendant, you will not have to come to the prove-up, if you sign the agreement in advance. Linda does have to be in court though, and we need to pick a date, when she is available.”
Both attorneys then looked at the wife, and as she hesitated, her husband became quite conscious of the fact that this session had been draining on her as well. After a second though she gave a tired nod, like a team player not wanting to make waves.
“Just tell me when the hearing is,” she told them. “And I’ll let my boss know I need the morning off.”
Carol then shifted her position in the chair and turned toward her opponent.
“Alright, I’ll step down the hall and talk to the clerk,” she informed the room. “Bob, do you have any days that are better for you the week after next?”
“I don’t think so,” he told her. “I’m probably already here every day on something,” and reaching into his breast pocket, he pulled out his phone. Then after a quick check he nodded. “Nope, just pick your date and let my office know this afternoon.”
“Will do,” she agreed, and turning toward Linda, she added, “Why don’t you come with me, so we can make sure, he gives us a day that works for you?”
“Okay,” her client said in a meek voice, and after Ms. Cortesi slid the file back into her briefcase, both women stood up.
Since his wife had already said she would be available any day, Steve suspected that this suggestion was really an excuse for the attorney to speak to Linda alone. The barrister no doubt wanted to make sure her client understood everything that had just happened, and as the door closed behind the two women, Bob looked at him.
“Any questions?” he asked, as he adjusted his glasses one more time.
The lawyer did not sound like he had anything to say that the other man needed to know, and Steve got the impression that Bob just felt obligated to listen, if he wanted to vent. His client supposed that this was part of his professional services, but more talk on this subject sounded to him like extending his stay in a dentist chair, and he felt a desperate yearning to get somewhere, where he could breathe.
“No, just send me the agreement, when it’s ready,” he instructed, sliding his papers into his jacket pocket.
Then without looking back the husband stepped toward the door, and as he started down the hall, he had a sinking feeling that he had handled the conference all wrong. However, he suspected that he had messed up this whole divorce thing from the beginning, starting with his performance during that fateful conversation six months earlier.
When Steve’s wife had requested that they go their separate ways, part of him had wanted to beg her to reconsider, but he had been afraid to try. He had worried that she might still reject him, and not thinking he could deal with this additional humiliation, he had listened in near silence, as she had attempted to explain her position. Then after twenty-five minutes, he had told her that since she had already made up her mind, he did not see the point of continuing their conversation.
Yet, as the soon to be ex-husband recalled the disappointed look on Linda’s face, he wondered whether giving up so easily had been the biggest mistake of his life. Perhaps rather than walking away, he should have pointed out all the things he had done for her and the girls over the years and expressed his desire to continue trying to make them happy. Or maybe she would have appreciated a reminder of all the qualities he liked about her, such as the way she laughed, the patience she showed with their children, and her willingness to offer him sympathy, when the pressures of life wore him down. And then there was the question of why he had not suggested that they work on what had gone wrong between them.
It might have been that all they would have really needed was to spend a little more time together, and the man flinched as he thought of all those evenings when he had arrived home too tired and cranky to be sociable. His solution had been to tramp down to the basement and turn on some sporting event, but now he wondered if at that point he should have offered to watch television with her sometimes instead. He certainly did not think it would have killed him to have viewed a few episodes of “Antique Roadshow,” or “Call the Midwife,” if that would have kept the two of them together. Unfortunately though, at the time he had lacked either the imagination or the nerve to try this approach.
The hall of the courthouse appeared to be just as dismal a place as it had been forty minutes earlier, and the man now noticed all the scuff marks that covered the worn brown tiles on the floor. Furthermore, dark clouds were showing through the windows behind the benches, and he observed that none of the people walking back and forth between the various chambers were smiling.
After a hundred feet or so, Steve began to feel light headed, and spotting a water fountain, he stepped over for a drink. Then when he failed to find a button on the fixture, he grew more frustrated and gritted his teeth. A moment later though he realized that this was one of those high-tech fountains that senses body motion, and leaning his shoulders forward, he managed to trigger the mechanism.
At that point the man gulped down several mouthfuls, while asking himself if he had ever felt so depressed. He had conceded to his wife’s demands, because he did not want to hurt his family, and he was not sure that he could have maintained his sanity, if this legal proceeding had dragged on any longer. He also felt that Linda should be thanking him for what he was giving her, but as he straightened up, he assumed that by expressing so much anger, he would probably have eliminated any feelings of gratitude on her part.
It almost made the visitor to the courthouse wonder whether anything made sense anymore, and as he leaned against the wall for a moment, he just hoped that no one would conclude that he was having a nervous breakdown. A short time later though, Linda stepped up behind him, and while he did not see her coming, he recognized her voice.
“Steve, I’m sorry you’re upset,” she pronounced, and her startled husband turned his head.
Their lawyers were not around, and at the moment the woman’s face showed no hostility. Then as he took a deeper breath, he recognized the perfume she was wearing, and he realized that they were closer to each other than they had been all morning. Still, he felt disappointed that she had not thanked him for what he had agreed to give her. Rather she had expressed a concern that he was unhappy, and again he did not want her to consider him an object of pity.
“It’s okay,” he told her, and Linda nodded with a sad look in her eyes.
“You know I really am sorry that things did not work out for us,” she said. “We did have some happy years together, and I cannot think of anyone I would rather have had as the father of my children,” and Steve wondered where this was leading.
His wife was divorcing him, and a few minutes ago she had been demanding another pound of flesh as a parting settlement. Now however, she was showing concern for his feelings. She no doubt wanted to mitigate any bitterness between them, and he supposed that this was a noble attitude on her part. At the moment though he felt too confused to deal with this issue, and rather than acknowledging her effort, he tried to prevent this discussion from going any further.
“Well sometimes life doesn’t work out the way we want it to,” he stated in a business-like tone. “I’ll call you later about picking up the girls this weekend.”
His response produced a puzzled look on the woman’s face, and her husband became concerned that if he gave her the chance, she would try to prolong the conversation.
“Take care,” he added, and turning around, he walked away.
Steve heard Linda tell him goodbye, but not until four or five steps later, and he suspected that it had taken her that long to figure out that he did not want to talk further. Then when he exited the courthouse, he came to a pause on the sidewalk and took a second to zip his jacket. At that point he also recalled that he was supposed to go to work this afternoon, and he knew he had a major project to complete by the end of the week. After what he had just been through though, he did not think he was going to be able to make it.
Looking up, the man then noticed that the stoplight was changing to green, and after traipsing through the crosswalk, he turned right. This was not the shortest way to his car, but he was hoping that the extra walking would help relieve his stress.
Steve was experiencing a bit of regret over the way he had ignored his wife’s attempt to pass the peace pipe, but her sudden change of attitude had made him feel awkward, and he had found it too hard to let down his defenses. At this point he also admitted to himself that he had never possessed a strong ability to express his feelings, and the thought that this weakness might have contributed to the demise of his marriage brought a certain melancholy to his heart. As he continued down the sidewalk though, he told himself that he was just indulging in wishful thinking here. When all was said and done, a human being had to live within his limitations.
