Dear Cyndy,

I'm glad you're even considering visiting us in Belmont.
If your plans come to fruition, I very much hope that
you can persuade Ned to come along. As you know, I
am very sensitive to being left behind myself, and I
couldn't help worrying about Ned if he didn't come.

In the context of our totally aphonic epistolary
friendship, I have a remarkable situation to describe
to you: On Friday morning, just two days ago, the 'phone 
rang, and when I picked it up, a woman's voice asked
for my sister Margrit, and on being advised that
Margrit was in Belmont attending Nathaniel's high school
graduation, the voice identified herself as Marion,
Marion Namenwirth, my first cousin, the daughter of
my father's brother Fritz, whom I had met only once,
fleetingly, when she and her husband - or boyfriend
made a hit-and-run visit to Konnarock perhaps forty
years ago when I was doctoring in Damascus. I had made
no further efforts to encounter Marion. But not
so my sister, who is a compulsive socializer and
makes it a point to pay regular visits to anyone
who is pleased to talk to her, - and to many who 
are not. She had visited Marion on numerous occasions;
just why Marion wanted to talk with her last Friday,
I don't know, I didn't ask.

However, Marion seemed very pleased to have a chance to
talk with me. She made wide-ranging inquiries about what
I had been doing, until, inevitably, the conversation
turned to family affairs, to the rupture in family
relationships - you know all about that - which had
extended from 1935 to the deaths of the two brothers
and their spouses. That's what was weighing on her
mind, and that's what she really wanted to discuss;
and so we talked for perhaps an hour and a half.

The telephone conversation precipitated an e-mail
exchange, an exploration of family history fascinating
to me, in which my son Klemens has become actively
involved. I find the matter of interest, not only
because I need to understand my parents - and myself, -
but also because the effort to understand the past is so
dramatic a demonstration of history and its limitations.

I mention all this, because if you could spare the time,
reviewing this correspondence might prove a satisfying
exercise for you as an historian, - assuming you want
such exercise. The letters are all in English, with
a scattering of untranslated German quotations, which,
of course I should be pleased to translate for you,
if you wished. I don't yet know, but should find out
shortly, whether Marion is at all proficient in reading
German.

As of now, there is one detailed letter from Marion,
five incremental letters from me, - you are familiar
with my verbosity, - and two commentaries from Klemens.
It seems likely, that much more is in the offing. If
you want e-mail copies forwarded to you, please let
me know.

Stay well, and give my best to Ned.

Jochen