Dear Cyndy,

Thank you for your letter. On Monday, I spent several hours in
the Newton Library copying all 24 cases that Kimberly had cited.
That library provides free access to an Internet database (Loislaw)
and charges only 10 cents per page for copying.  I paid them more
than $20, so I must have copied more than 200 pages. I didn't count
them; I certainly didn't read them all; too irrelevant, too little time, 
and above all, too little space. The court allows only 20 pages for
a reply brief, and these I needed to flaunt my own thoughts.
I didn't think I should spend any of them on demonstrating the
mindlessness of my opponents. I finished my composition on Tuesday,
Oct. 6; I spent much of Wednesday, day before yesterday, delivering
my Reply Brief to the AG, to Kimberly and to the Appeals Court.
My task now is to practice ataraxia; because if I succeed in
achieving indifference to the outcome, I can't lose the case, -
and I think I'm getting there. I attach the final version of the
Reply Brief that I submitted. Just for the record, as usual,
you needn't read it or comment on it.

The Deck House brochures which I mentioned in my letters from Konnarock
weren't where I thought I had placed them. As I kept searching,
I became progressively more impressed with the disorder of my library
which is scattered through six rooms, the basement and the garage.
Margaret finally told me where to look and ultimately I found several
volumes, - several pounds of dream material from Deck House, which I'm
prepared to mail to you if you write to me, saying you would like to
have it. I note that in a price schedule dated January 1986, Model 7123
with 1581 sq.ft. is listed as $35,000 for materials, $52,000 for
construction costs, yielding a construction/materials ratio of 1.486,
as opposed to the construction/materials ratio of 2.666 cited by
Molly Tee. I suspect they deliberately exaggerate construction costs,
because the last thing their reputation needs is a pile of Deck House
materials that doesn't get assembled.

If this were my project, and I wish it were, but it isn't, my first 
move would be to decide on the model; next I would negotiate with
Deck House about providing me with detailed building specifications.
I would insist on participating in the workshops or instruction courses
that they give for builders; then I'd take the specifications and canvas
local - and not so local contractors for bids. I would be in a position
to tell them exactly what needed to be done; and only when I had firm
commitments from contractors, would I sign a contract with Deck House.
In the end, I would function as my own contractor, hiring the excavators
to dig the hole, the mason to pour the concrete, the carpenters to erect
the timber frame, the electrician - maybe, - and the plumber - maybe.
I suspect in this economy there are many carpenters looking for work
and I would be surprised if constructions costs couldn't be substantially
reduced, to perhaps as low as $75 per sq. ft.

Jochen