marriage: sacred bond between two people or get rich quick scheme?

my mother just told me a story about a new client she saw last night, a young indian woman, let's call her ishani. her husband had come to india, divorced, looking for a wife. his previous wife and her mother in law had been murdered and he had two kids and was not looking for any more. ishani had also recently been divorced as she was unable to bear children. perfect match. they marry and return to the united states, connecticut to be specific. once there, she finds out that he was the chief suspect in the murders. also that their old house had mysteriously burnt down shortly after a large policy had been taken out on it. hm.

a year or so goes by and ishani becomes pregnant, revealing that it was her husband and not her that had been the source of the conception problems in her previous marriage. her new husband forces her to go to somea sketchy clinic in south jersey where they perform an abortion at four and a half months, even though the baby is perfectly healthy. she's upset, obviously, so her husband suggests a little time away, maybe a trip to india by herself instead of with the step children (as she had been doing once a year since coming to the states) would be good for her. she goes and within two days of being there is served with divorce papers. the lawyer tells her she better get back on a plane immediately because if she signs the papers there, she's screwed. once back in connecticut she finds out that a month or so earlier, before he filed for divorce he had purchased a very large life insurance policy on her.

so now she is in a shelter here in nj. she is uneducated and doesn't speak english very well but hopefully since she left and got herself a lawyer and some good therapists, instead of being murdered like this guy's last family, she will prevent him from being able to do it again.

what do you call a tennis match between stevie wonder and helen keller?







endless love.

too much time spent in ordinary places.

i have spent a solid percentage of my time in the past month or so in elevators. which has confirmed something i have always suspected (having a handicapped mother, my critical eye for elevators has been a long time in the making). the door close button is truly the most critical feature of an elevator. i have come across generally three types of door close buttons.

1. the kind that doesn't work. these suck.
2. the kind that works immediately. these are awesome.
3. the kind where the door to the elevator will not close unless you press the button. on these i am undecided.

also in one small but fancy office building in downtown manhattan, there is an elevator that possesses a non-stop button. these i believe to be the wave of the future.