The Happy Marriage

Sneaking around made their encounters more pleasurable. They would say: “We’re like thieves! Our happiness is our secret and our love is how we survive! We refuse to be thwarted! We live this love and know that we’ll one day be inconsolable creatures!” Then came the break. It was brutal, definitive, and cruel. She finally left him because she knew he would never leave his wife to go live with her. She’d guessed right. He was afraid of how his wife would retaliate. It was an insurmountable fear. He was stuck, unable to move, unable to turn his back on a miserable life and go somewhere else with the woman he loved. That was when he’d accepted a suggestion that a friend of his who was well versed in stories of witchcraft had made him. The friend had said: “Leave it to me and please let me know what happens. Give me leave to go consult an old man who lives in the mountains far from the cities, a man who is blessed with extraordinary powers and knows what happens between people, he has a gift for that. He’s a holy man who only uses the Qur’an — he doesn’t use any gris-gris or black magic. He just reads the Qur’an and uses numbers!”

He let his friend go ahead. After all, what did he have to lose?

The old man’s assessment of the situation had been impressive! “This man has been manipulated by his wife for a long time, she’s trying to obstruct his path and tighten her grip on him so that she can control him. He is surrounded by many kinds of talismans; he is an artist, someone who is successful; she is jealous of that and is being advised by people from her bled. He must leave. We are not usually in favor of separating a man from his wife, but in this case he’s at risk. I don’t know what exactly, but she’ll never give him peace. Here, take this talisman, tell him to wear it and to read a page of the Qur’an every night before going to bed. This will help soothe him since he is so restless. If he wants to stay with his wife and children, then he will have to submit, otherwise his life will become a living hell because she is in cahoots with men who will impede him from achieving anything. Every time he meets a woman, they will make all the necessary efforts to ensure that this relationship fails. He will always find it difficult to sleep. A curse hangs around this man. May God fill our hearts with His kindness! She’ll never give him peace!”

The painter had been left speechless and openmouthed and he’d started to look around his studio for any gris-gris his wife might have planted there. He found a few hidden under the couch where he occasionally slept, while he found others in the bathroom, the kitchen, and even at the bottom of his bag. He was surrounded by them. Even though he’d never believed in these things, he changed his mind and became suspicious. He realized that the spells they’d cast on Ava had worked. He told himself: “Now that I know what’s going on, I’ll do everything I can to get back together with the woman I love!” He made several attempts, but they were all in vain. Ava had moved, changed her telephone number, and he’d been unable to find any trace of her. He spent the following couple of years without any news of her, continuing to live with his wife while hoping to make the necessary preparations to leave her for good. But he never had the time to do so. His stroke happened right after their terrible fight.

XVI. Casablanca, September 12, 2000

You’re a selfish old man. You’re utterly ruthless and never listen to anyone but yourself. But you hide it all behind your old-world manners and charm. Beneath your benevolent exterior, you’re as hard as nails.

— the daughter-in-law to her father-in-law

INGMAR BERGMAN, Wild Strawberries