I want to tell you about someone whose behavior could make the designation “deadbeat dad” sound like high praise.
About forty-three years ago, at the age of seventeen, I fancied myself in love and pregnant with my first child. Less than twenty-four hours after our wedding, I recognized that there was something very wrong with my husband, John Christian Quarless [JC]. He was not physically or sexually abusive and, at that time the concept of emotional abuse hadn’t been suggested. I had no word for what was wrong; my description of our problems seemed trivial so I persevered for a while then filed for a divorce. My efforts had more to do with preserving some kind of relationship between Chris and his father although, over the years, I have questioned the wisdom of preserving that relationship. I’ll skip over the fact that he quit his job rather than pay child support. I’ll skip over the fact that he amassed and lost a fortune in real estate in the years between Chris’ ninth and eighteenth birthdays. I’ll skip over the court-ordered child support of eighteen dollars per week ($18/week) that had to be squeezed out by Montgomery County’s Family Court. I’ll even skip over the way he reneged on his promise to pay college tuition, forcing Chris to drop of college. To get to the monstrous sociopathy of which JC is capable, I’ll go to the year Chris turned twenty-three and graduated from College.
The year started with Chris making his regular overtures to his father to go into business with him. JC, it turned out was a slumlord as well as a piss-poor parent. His tenants, it seemed had stopped paying rent and he had, in a fashion typical for him, placed himself on the wrong side of Landlord-Tenants’ court. Chris was persuaded to help him to evict his tenants legally and, as a result became a successful process-server for New York’s Landlord-Tenants’ court. In the years it took to evict the delinquent tenants, Chris had renovated and was occupying one of his father’s apartments. Since he got no money for the process-serving or numerous court appearances, Chris felt he was, at least, entitled to the apartment. His father had a phone-line in the apartment which Chris used in his business and paid for. One weekend, JC decided to disconnect the phone line. I persuaded Chris not to confront his father and quietly installed another land-line for him to continue his business. [This was before cell-phonesJ] his father became enraged that the phone was installed without his permission and in “a day that will live in infamy”, attacked Chris, in my presence and could not be stopped. I was recuperating from foot surgery and could barely stand. I eventually called the police. This would lay, in my mind, the foundation of what their relationship would be from that point on.
In spite of, or maybe because of these events, Chris decided that he would fight for the relationship. He felt that all other family members let his dad off the hook too easily and didn’t make him accountable for his behavior. Over the next ten years, he decided to do just the opposite. I decided to watch from a safe distance. The remainder of this story is best presented in chronological summary;
1997 – Chris asks JC to rent him the buildings at 954 & 956 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
They decide on an amount of $2,500 per month. Chris will rent the 2 apartments in 954, one of them to me, build a restaurant on the ground floor of 956 & live upstairs. JC agrees with a stipulation of a 13-year lease so that, even if the restaurant fails Chris will still be liable for the rent.
1998 – Po’k-knockers’ opens & is successful by its 4th month. Paying the rent is easy.
JC is nonplussed. Disputes between them are small & unimportant for a while.
2000 – The past year has been the stuff of nightmares for a bar owner in New York City. The restaurant has morphed into a club with a reputation for being a place where you go to be seen or to get shot. The police keep a hands-off stance until a patron gets shot after leaving the bar. They have performed an illegal search and seizure of assets in Chris’ apartment and issued a warrant for his arrest for gun-running based on finding a gun and cash. The case will drag on for 2 years but Chris decides to create a plan B – a restaurant in Montego Bay, Jamaica, his wife’s home.
2001 – JC decides to raise Chris’ rent to $5,000 as this is the amount he pays for housing and business in Montego Bay. During this time, Chris pays for insurance, utilities, improvements and foils several attempts of his father’s to sell the business. That’s right! Not the building; the business]
2002 – Police harassment continues. JC’s harassment continues. JC threatens to “close down the business” and drain finances, personnel and goods from PKs’ for his own use. Chris & PKs’ head for the Red for the 1st time.
2003 – The case is thrown out of court; no probable cause for the search & seizure. Chris attempts to get political support to halt Police harassment. However, the legal fees are overwhelming. In addition, he is paying his father $6,000 per month in Brooklyn.
2004 – Any pretence of keeping afloat has ended. Chris starts to make plans to shut NY down.
2005 – PKs’ is closed to put an end to tax penalties, legal costs and further action on its liquor license. These are the terms. Chris gives his father the proceeds from the sale of 2 pieces of property as the down-payment for 956 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn - $400,000 [USD]!! The catch? The property stays in JC’s name as Chris still owes $35,00 in sales taxes.
………………to be continued………..
