The Great Unpacking Of Love
Part 8

Act 2

Fallow Hearts to Bodies

November 2019

The Fémina Prize is awarded this year to a completely unknown writer, out of nowhere, with unexpected freshness of writing. I name…

Scene 1

Everything you never wanted to know about marriage

A household is no longer a household

When it’s the dog who brings the slippers

And the woman who barks

Henry Bernstein

May 20, 1997

— Miss Clara Crèvecoeur, Do you want to marry Monsieur Mathieu Lhirondelle here?

– Yes, I want it.

— Mr. Mathieu Lhirondelle, would you like to marry Miss Clara Crèvecoeur here?

– Yes, I want it.

— I remind you that spouses owe each other mutual respect, fidelity, help and assistance. In the name of the law, I declare you united by the sacred bonds of marriage.

May 20, 2010

— Clara?

— …

— Clara?

– Yes?

—Did you hang the laundry?

– Yes, yes.

– Great! I love you.

—Clara?

— Um…

— Clara?

– Yes?

— What do we eat for lunch?

— Artichoke heart with bittersweet vinaigrette. Greyhound legs stuffed with Benedictine barley sugar. Gambettes for lovers of Burgundy.

– Ah good. I would have preferred a good bolo sauce, but we’ll make do with it.

Hey, won’t you forget to send an email to the electricity company for reimbursement?

– HM hm.

— Don’t get the wrong account number. Give it: 000-690069-007. As we’re talking about accounts, I saw that you bought some more clothes. You have a wardrobe full of them that you never wear. But it’s true, it must be said that you have gained weight lately. You should be careful and do some sport again.

– Yes, yes… Say my darling, would you like to go to the cinema this evening as a couple to see “9 1/2 Weeks”?

— Oh no, it’s reheated! And then, Kim Basinger must be a little worn. Plus this evening, there is Tottenham-Arsenal. It’s a crucial match that I would not miss under any circumstances. This match risks changing the face of the world…

— It doesn’t matter my darling, I’ll read.

—What are you reading at the moment?

— The Assommoir!

— Weird title!

— Finally, I’m going to go to bed, tomorrow I’m leading a discussion group at work. I have to be in good shape because it requires a lot of energy and concentration.

—What are you going to talk about?

— Emotional and s****l life. I want to address respect for others, their bodies, consent and of course love.

— What a program, my darling!

Scene 2

Introductions

September 15, 2018

Second Chance Home. Group of 11-12 year olds.

— Hello children. Let me introduce myself, my name is Clara Crèvecoeur, I am the new psychologist.

—What is a psychologist?

— This is a person who tries to heal the wounds of the soul. I try to bring out of the night those who no longer hope to one day see the rays of the sun.

— Say, Clara, how long does your solar eclipse last?

— It depends, but if the fog is extremely dense, you have to count in years.

—And the sun always comes b ack?

– Not always. The person must agree to be helped, find the strength and desire within themselves to return to clarity.

— Wow, you do a great job, Clara. Giving people hope is fabulous!

— And you, Clara, have you ever experienced darkness?

Scene 3

Clara and her parachute

01/01/2019 10:00

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Gauthier,

I wish you and your family a happy new year 2019. Let all the impossible become possible. I hope you are well since we last saw each other. I assume your two daughters are under examination as are the twins at our house. Studious atmosphere in the cottages!

Imagine that since September 2018, to my greatest happiness, I have found work in an institution for placed children. You know how much I was affected by my job loss more than a year ago. Fortunately, that’s in the past. You know me, I don’t let the hard blows of life get down easily. Even if sometimes I think that I was born on Friday the 13th. I always preferred to see the bottle half full, rather than half empty.

Best regards

Clara

01/20/2019 9:52

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Sorry to reply so late, I just saw your message. It had slipped into junk mail.

In turn, I wish you and your family a happy new year. Just like at home, my daughters are working hard for their exams.

I’m really happy for you that you’ve found work again and I don’t doubt for a single moment your ability to bounce back.

On occasion, it would be nice to see us all again over a good meal and a good glass of wine. I’m talking to Babette about it.

Best regards

Gauthier

01/27/2019 2:02 p.m.

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Gauthier,

I would like to tell you about a fabulous project that I am trying to carry out with one of my protégés. Imagine that, in agreement with the institution for which I work, I proposed a project to the “Mistral Gagnant” association. This organization offers to make the dreams of children come true whose good fairy has forgotten to look at their cradle.

Garri, a child particularly scratched by life, was chosen unanimously by the team. All that remains is to help him identify his wildest dream.

If I tell you about this project, it is not by chance. I know you have a journalist friend who could perhaps relay and cover the event. What do you think?

Clara

01/28/2019 6:52

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Wow, great! I recognize you there, Clara. Always wanting to save the widow and the orphan. But tell me, does Garri already have a clear idea of ​​his dream? Really, I’m interested in your story. Concerning my journalist friend, I will talk to her about it, but knowing her, with her big heart, she will definitely break down.

Gauthier

01/31/2019 10:49 p.m.

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

I see that you are as enthusiastic as I am. Yes, I can confirm it to you, Garri has a very specific dream in his head. He wants to fly to Norway to discover elk, reindeer and sled dogs. He loves animals and especially dogs from whom he says he received more affection than from his own mother. He also hopes that he will have the chance to meet Santa Claus.

Don’t forget to keep me informed for the press section.

K**s

Clara

02/15/2019 5:26

From: [email protected]

To:[email protected]

What is happening, my Clara? Fifteen long days without news from you…

02/16/2019 10:45 p.m.

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

I am simply overwhelmed as a good mother, model wife and overbooked psychologist.

I k**s you

Clara

02/17/2019 07:51

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Here I am reassured, good lady. Hearing from you delights me to no end. But enlighten me, when you talk about a “model wife”, are you sure you can always remain one? Would you never be tempted by a handsome Apollo?

02/17/2019 11:00 p.m.

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Dear Casanova,

I love my husband and it seems unlikely that I would be attracted to any Apollo. On the other hand, I would swear to nothing if I met the gaze of an exceptional man who could dazzle me, surprise me and demonstrate intellectual originality.

02/17/2019 11:11 p.m.

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Oh, no less than Casanova! What an improbable comparison! You misunderstand, my dear, about my real talents as a seducer. Casanova multiplied romantic liaisons without any respect towards his conquests with the sole aim of flattering his ego. I don’t think I fit this abject character.

On the other hand, my dear Constance, I could see myself frolicking with you in Sherwood Forest in the simplest pomp.

Yours devoted Mellors

02/17/2019 11:13 p.m.

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Lady Chatterley’s Lover! This novel from the beginning of the 20th century is a pearl of erotic literature in the noble sense of the term, vibrant with beautiful sensuality and filled with poetry. He shook Puritan England: “I’m shocked”. Its author, DH Lawrence, happily breaks preconceived ideas about female pleasure and virility.

Very nice choice on your part, Mellors.

Constance

02/17/2019 11:20 p.m.

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Dear Lady Chatterley,

I am happy that you like my literary choice so much. You should plunge yourself, like Constance, into the overwhelming passion of the most divine of empires, that of the senses. Taste hedonism, carnal pleasure and don’t be ashamed of your desires buried deep within you. But from there to giving in to libertinage, it seems to me that you should not take this step, you, so romantic and such a blue flower.

I place a gentle k**s on your delicate lips.

Oliver Mellors

02/17/2019 11:31 PM

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Dear Oliver,

Please stop, stop, I feel global warming rising inside me. As I read you, my cheeks turn red like the rising winter sun…

— Clara?

– Yes ?

—What are you doing? You’ve seen the hour ? Tomorrow you have to get up early for your training in Brussels.

— Yes, yes, Mathieu, I’m finishing some work for my job and I’m coming.

… Gauthier, I’ll leave you, Mathieu is crying out for me. See you. I k**s you tenderly. Your Lady Chatterley

02/18/2019 11:47 p.m.

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

My dear Sherwood Forest gamekeeper,

Mathieu went to London for three days for professional reasons . I have plenty of time to indulge in our virtual epistolary exchanges, which, I admit, I take more and more pleasure in.

Yesterday, you were talking about libertinage, even advising me against it, Clara the romantic, the pretty blue flower. Well, you are wrong about me, there was a time, very long ago, when I was libertine. Not by choice, but by survival!

You are probably aware that at a very young age, I lost a loved one in an extremely brutal way. I often wonder if there is an opportune time to experience such an earthquake. I admit that I am still looking for the answer.

This emotional flaw inexorably pushed me towards the precipice of the limitless quest for male love. Just like the Danaids, I was trying to fill my bottomless emotional barrel. Needless to say, it was a total fiasco. Know, dear Oliver, that in my dangerous connections, I have always had the gift of attracting lost dogs without a collar. I’ve explored the entire male artistic range: painter, sculptor, musician, writer, photographer and even a turner-fucker. Not very profitable, neither for my wallet nor for my heart. You can’t imagine the impressive number of easy men I encountered during my emotional wandering. I assure you, so-called strong, single-use s*x does indeed exist. With a snap of your fingers in your bed, with a wave of your hand, gone forever.

I like to quote Pierre Dac to illustrate this part of my life: “Those for whom love consists solely of getting laid have an interest in opening their parachute to slow down the descent.” God knows I often had to open my parachute! Fortunately, all this is far away. Thanks to my meeting with Mathieu, I definitively put away my parachute and relegated the ersatz of love to oblivion.

The only positive point in this frantic quest is that it allowed me to visit every continent on the planet, reducing the carbon footprint, and to taste all the colors of the skin palette.

But it’s getting late, my friend, I wish you a good night in the arms of Morpheus.

Constancy