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ChAPtEr 7
Case Histories, Anecdotes,
and War Stories
You never can tell about a marriage from the outside.... Some couples hold
hands because they’re afraid that if they let go they’d kill each other.
—Anonymous
We have all heard them, the truly horrible stories of just how
nasty—how literally insane—divorcing couples can get on their
way out of the marriage. Divorce is a time when people’s emotions
go into overdrive. We’re talking high drama here. When divorce
madness grabs hold of some folks, they go to great lengths to
apply the old “Don’t get mad, get even!” adage entirely too liter-
ally. Many spurned spouses, in particular, often refuse to just go
away quietly.