The Great Unpacking Of Love
Part 11

Scene 6

Clara comes out of the shadows

April 10, 2019

Second chance home. Group 11-12 years old.

— Clara, you never answered us. Have you ever been in the dark?

— Yes, Garri.

— In twilight or total darkness?

— Total darkness.

— Shit, then.

— A few years ago, while I was shining under the sunlight of the Tropics, my life shifted towards the Tropic of cancer.

— Your story is sad.

– Yes and no. Against all expectations, this illness gave me a second life that no longer had much to do with the first.

— A more beautiful life?

– Different. Now, I never put off until tomorrow what I dream of doing. I live fully in the present moment. Having the certainty that I will only have one life and having almost lost it several times, I don’t want to miss anything, let anything slip through the cracks. Everything that I have never taken the time to do, I accomplish fully without moderation. Life is today and now.

I want to die having fulfilled my simplest and craziest desires. I hope never again to taste either physical or moral suffering. You see Garri, I do everything I can to get as close as possible to the clarity, the light and the rays of the sun without burning my wings.

— Your story is so beautiful, Clara!

Scene 7

Clara challenges Gauthier

04/13/2019 11:21 p.m.

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Gauthier,

I took the time to think. You asked me what to do to repair your indelicacy? I suggest you meet us virtually at Café de Flore this Friday at 8:45 a.m. sharp. We could easily play the intellectual elite. I offer you a philosophical contest on the theme of love and the couple, in the style of the famous Germanopratin existentialist couple. Everyone will have to compete in their imagination to impress the other. But be careful, this game is intended to be completely platonic. Are you up for it, my dear Jean-Paul?

04/13/2019 11:30 p.m.

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Come on, drive Simone!

Scene 8

Clara slips into the laziness of her relationship

When the liabilities of a love exceed its assets,

It is the bankruptcy of this love or, at least,

The filing of its romantic balance sheet

Pierre Dac

— Mathieu, don’t you think that we share more liabilities together than assets?

– What are you talking about ? Savings accounts?

— But no, I’m talking about our relationship. Apart from the bills, the hassles of all kinds, the education of our two recalcitrant teenagers, what remains of our loves?

After escaping the Tropic of Cancer, I can no longer settle for pastel colors. I want a fireworks display of shimmering, lively, dazzling colors. Colors that exude joy and cheerfulness.

Do you remember our crazy escapades in the early hours to watch the common cranes take off? Have you forgotten our crazy passion for each other? Our backpacking trip to Rajasthan, meeting the Sadhus?

— Don’t dream Clara, our youth is well and truly behind us. We will never regain this passion.

— Let’s try anyway. Who knows ?

— No, it’s a waste of time. All studies prove it, the passion lasts three years, after which the couple finds their cruising speed.

— Oh, you annoy me with your implacable rationality! A life as a couple requires maintenance. Do you remember the last time you told me I was beautiful?

— I don’t know, but that goes without saying. You know it anyway. Why tell you?

— For my ego, it does me a lot of good. Tell me, do you think I’m a desirable woman?

— You have some funny questions. Sometimes I wonder if the chemo hasn’t reached your cerebral cortex.

— Well, since you don’t understand, I’ll be more specific. Am I still fuckable?

— Clara, you’re becoming vulgar!

– Answer me.

— You are my wife, Clara, I love you more than anything and you know it very well.

— So my handsome prince, when do you plan to come and wake up your sleeping beauty who has been sleeping for ages?

Scene 9

Clara and Gauthier get excited in a couple’s reflection

The secret of happiness in love,

It is not to be blind

But to know how to close your eyes

When necessary

Simone Signoret

Very dear Simone,

When I came across your azure blue eyes, my heart only jumped. A dizzying feeling came over me, making me feel like I was drowning in your gaze. I never stopped going back to them, again and again, as they reflected your beautiful soul. And what about your intelligence, just as attractive as you? Just the sight of you made me grow wings and I felt a lightness never before experienced.

Dear Jean-Paul,

What poetry, my friend, I didn’t know you were so sentimental. But aren’t you confusing Simone with Elsa? Elsa Triolet, the muse of Aragon, with exceptional eyes which inspired her in a sublime poem imbued with love and beauty.

Dear Simone,

Regardless, these two couples of exceptional intellectuals, loving freedom of thought and notorious non-conformists, in a more than conservative era, have always forged my admiration.

Dear Jean-Paul,

For my part, it is especially Elsa and Simone who obtain my votes for their great intelligence, their thirst for freedom in their relationship and their almost passionate admiration for their respective life partners.

Dear Simone,

You’re absolutely right. I think they are worthy pioneers of feminist movements. In their lives as women, they knew how to assume their bodies, their sexuality, their intelligence and lead their lives as they saw fit in a more than formal context.

Dear Gauthier,

Do you know that in the Beauvoir-Sartre couple, they distinguished between necessary love and contingent loves?

Dear Clara,

If I understand correctly, they accepted libertinism while forming a stable couple.

Dear Gauthier,

Do you think it’s possible?

Dear Clara,

If the couple shares the same vision of things, why not. Otherwise, suffering may well be present for one of the two. Look at my own relationship, you know very well that I married a devourer of men. My wife has a morbid need to please and be loved. I close my eyes to her escapades, I feel more serene and joyful to live this way, even if I feel great suffering deep within me.

Dear Gauthier,

What a sacred proof of Love on your part! You build my admiration.

So why are you looking for a “Free Trade Hotel” plan?

Dear Clara,

Babette is more generous with her dildos than with her own husband. She always tells me that romantic passion only lasts for a while. I am convinced that love varies in intensity throughout the couple’s life. The original colors never return, they fluctuate according to the vagaries of life. The fiery passion of the beginning gradually gives way to a real attachment.

Dear Gauthier,

I fear more than anything the free fall of temperatures on my barometer of pleasure. I avoid any monotonous life, I like to play on the entire scale.

Dear Clara,

Don’t be so pessimistic. In love, you should never rest on your laurels, nothing is ever acquired. You must continue to surprise others by showing imagination and originality. Sometimes these are very simple things. Well, last year for Babette’s 50th birthday, I had no desire for yet another Michelin-starred restaurant. I wanted to surprise her. On the big day, I pretended I wanted a solo walk in the woods.

A few weeks earlier, I had spotted a small grove bordered by a stream and lined with soft moss. I installed a table and two chairs found at the flea market. My very aristocratic Aunt Danièle gave me, a few years ago, crystal glasses, gold-rimmed tableware and two magnificent candlesticks.

As night fell, I took Babette to my pop-up restaurant for a candlelit meal. Unlimited smoked salmon, oysters and shellfish of all kinds, without forgetting the essential Champagne for the occasion!

Dear Gauthier,

So what? Keep going, your story is captivating!

Dear Clara,

She loved it like never before. I have never seen her laugh so much, happiness radiated from her face… and more so in harmony on the green plant bed.

Dear Gauthier,

How lucky your Babette is! I don’t know if many women can be proud of having celebrated their half-century in such a romantic and crazy way. I’m sure she will remember it for the rest of her life! I would really like Mathieu to relax a little. Too bad I was born in December!