I accompanied my husband on one of his trips to the neighboring county courthouse and waited as he took care of recording some documents he needed for his business.
A few minutes pased and a middle-aged couple came in, asked questions of the receptionist, and were directed to an area near me where they were to complete a form they needed to record. I watched as they went over to the table and then I turned my attention back to my husband.
A couple minutes later I heard a woman’s voice: “If you’ll shut up and leave me alone, I’ll be able to get this done!” The voice was loud and harsh and I turned just as the man backed away from where his wife was sitting. He was embarrassed and turned away from my gaze, then quickly left the room. Her words to him were very demeaning and I wondered, if she spoke so harshly to him in public, how much worse was she in private?
Later, when I told my husband what had happened, he said, “Maybe they were there to file a do-it-yourself divorce.” I hadn’t thought about it up to that point, but it would have made a lot of sense because I couldn’t imagine anyone talking that way to someone they loved.