Exercises in Style- Jen Weinel

Narrative
Hilary looked at the long document and thought about what signing it would mean. She thought of all the good times her and her husband had had together—their son being born, vacations, laughing with friends and family. Then she began to think of all the arguments and tension that had persisted throughout their marriage. When she walked down the aisle eight years ago she never thought she would become one of the couples that ended up this way. Their love for one another had been so strong that Hilary struggled to find answers as to why they had grown so distant.
Hilary signed her name on the line where the divorce attorney instructed her to and made the decision to never look back. Their marriage had been over a long time ago an there was nothing she could do about it now. It was time to move on.

Anger
Hilary snatched the papers out of the divorce lawyer’s hand and took a deep breath to calm herself down. She blamed her husband for making her go through all this. Their marriage had been a disaster and nothing good had come out of it other than their son. They had spent eight years screaming at each other about every issue that arose. She recalled the time he bought a sports car without discussing it with her and the one night he didn’t come home until three in the morning. He must have been cheating. It was a good thing Hilary had taken him to court to get sole custody of their son and had managed to get a hefty sum of his money. He didn’t deserve anything after what he had put her through. As she gladly signed the divorce papers, she wished unhappiness upon him.

Regret
Hilary sadly looked at the divorce papers lying on the table in front of her. She felt it was all her fault that her and her husband were getting a divorce. Had she not tried hard enough? Had she picked too many fights? She wondered if he blamed her for everything and if he was happy to see this marriage end. She had been the one to bring up getting a divorce and she began to regret this decision as her lawyer showed her where to sign on the paper. She thought of all the mistakes she had made over the last eight years and wished she could take them back so her and her husband could still be married. If she could only have a second chance she would do everything differently.

Memory Loss
Hilary sits down in a comfortable leather chair in an office she’s never been in before. A very professional looking man in a suit is sitting across from her. On the wall she sees his diplomas and realizes she is in a lawyer’s office. She cannot remember why she would be seeing a lawyer. To update her will? Sue someone? She can’t even remember how she got here… Did she drive or walk? Why is the lawyer talking to her about getting a divorce? She is happily married to her husband... although she cannot remember the last time she saw him. Maybe this is all a mix-up?

Impatience
The lawyer handed his client her divorce papers and hoped she would sign them quickly and be on her way. However, she did not look like one of those clients. She seemed nervous and on the verge of tears. The lawyer was used to this but was not in the mood to deal with it at this moment… Three more clients after her… He wanted to make it home before seven o’clock so he could eat dinner with his family for the first time in a week. He wanted to avoid another argument with his wife so he wouldn’t be the next person sitting at this desk signing divorce papers like all of his clients.
The client looked up at the lawyer with tears in her eyes and asked him if they could review the divorce document one more time to make sure she was doing the right thing… This was going to be a long night.

Precision
The temperature in the 10 ft by 12 ft office was 68.3 degrees Fahrenheit. The 135 lb, 5 ft, 4 in female client aged 36 years, 4 months, and 19 days sat 3 ft, 2 in across from her 180 lb, 6 ft, 1 in tall male lawyer aged 42 years, 11 months, and 7 days. He handed her an 8.3 by 11.7 in sheet of white paper. She stared at it for 8.2 seconds before she asked him where to sign. He pointed to a line that was 3.4 inches long. She took 3.6 seconds to sign the 1145 word document.

First-Person Point of View
I sat down in my lawyer’s office and looked down at the long document he placed in front of me. He showed me where on the divorce papers I needed to sign and explained again what I would be getting from my husband. I had thought about this moment many times before and was surprised at how calm I was. Eight years ago, when we walked down the aisle, I never would have imagined that my life would turn out this way. I thought of all the arguments that my husband and I had had throughout our marriage and came to the conclusion that it had ended a long time ago and I needed to move on. I took the pen from the lawyer’s hand and signed where I was told. It was all over.