ARMED HOSTILITY

CHAPTER 1

War:
A conflict carried on by force of arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation; warfare, as by land, sea, or air.
A state or period of armed hostility or active military operations: The two nations were at war with each other.
A contest carried on by force of arms, as in a series of battles or campaigns: the War of 1812.
Active hostility or contention; conflict; contest: a war of words.
Aggressive business conflict, as through severe price cutting in the same industry or any other means of undermining competitors: a fare war among airlines; a trade war between nations.
A struggle: a war for men’s minds; a war against poverty.
Armed fighting, as a science, profession, activity, or art; methods or principles of waging armed conflict: War is the soldier’s business.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
My name is Alice Pieszecki and I am a lawyer. I’m specialized in gay couples marriages, divorces and adoptions.
Yep.
That’s what I do for a living and I used to like my job.
A lot.
I used to think I was doing something really important for the gay/bisexual community, I felt some kind of a hero, and I loved it.
Until now.
The reason is a question that keeps on repeating into my head like a broken record.
A question, a single, simple question.
Do you have some valid reasons for wanting a divorce?
That’s what I ask to my clients when they come to me looking for the best way to beat to a pulp their partner.
Do you have some valid reasons for wanting a divorce? I mean, valid reasons.
Really valid reasons.
Sometimes, they don’t know what to reply.
Sometimes, they do.
In any cases, they want me to be the weapon to destroy the person the once loved and…
…Excuse me, I need to blow my nose.
My sinuses are very sensitive to irritants and some of you must have taken a bath into a very annoying cologne.
In the past five months, I think I’ve breathed freely, with both sides working, maybe a week total.
I gotta cut this out. It’s gonna kill me.
You know, ladies and gentlemen… the truth is that I hadn’t smoked for years.
I kept the last cigarette from my last pack.
I said if I never smoke this one cigarette, I’ll never smoke again.
Period.
And I kept that one cigarette for years.
Here. Can you see it? Under the glass?
I had this little case made for it.
See?
For years.
And then, one Thursday afternoon, Carmen came to see me.
And when she left, she simply told me:
“You know where I am if you change your mind”.
I was frankly shocked, speechless and even flabbergasted.
Shane McCutcheon Morales and Carmen Morales McCutcheon.
The M&M couple, as I like to call them.
You have never heard of them, I am sure, and not because I kept what happened out of the papers.
You have never heard of them because they are nothing but a regular couple suddenly turned into a…
God.
I can’t even say it.
It would be funny, if it wasn’t that tragic.
Yes, anyway, uhm, the M&M couple – beautiful, young, successful, smart and very, very in love – became, with no apparent reason, the nuclear bomb for an armed hostility.
Why am I here? Why am I talking to you?
Because I think you should hear their story.
It might matter to you.
And I won’t even start the clock, yet.
You know, my fee is 250 dollars an hour.
When a woman who makes 250 dollars an hour wants to tell you something for free, you should listen.