Dear Marion,

Your letter, for which I thank you, came just as I was about
to gird my mind to write to you. I felt a bit hungry, 
went into the kitchen for a dish of inexpensive ice cream and 
a sip of very delicious red wine, recently imported from 
Michigan, the purchase of the likes of which has for years
been precluded by my parsimonious nature. The obligations
imposed by Margrit's death, fourteen weeks ago tomorrow,
have much distorted my intellectual routines. Most of the work
is now completed. The Detroit apartment has been reliquished
as have the storage spaces in the grandiose apartment building.
The insouciance of the Abingdon, Virginia bureaucracy has
provided me with what is essentially a carte blanche for
dissolving Margrit's estate, and all that now stands in the
way of my completing this task is the procrastination of
Canadian officialdom  - they warn it will require six to
eight weeks - to provide me with a death certificate for
Margrit's friend Dr. Harold Russel Atkinson whom she
designated as beneficiary on death on two of her retirement
accounts. Inasmuch as Dr. Atkinson predeceased her and 
can no longer receive Margrit's largesse, the relatively
small sums in issue will presumably be paid to her probate
estate. I have filed amended Virginia tax returns for the
years 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002 and 2000.
I assume refunds for the years preceding 2006 will be denied;
but the tax authorities must give an explanation the legality
of which it will be my prerogative to examine, and if I so
choose, to challenge. We will see what happens.

The accounts of Margrit's life and death for which her
friends have been asking me, and the responses that I have
received from them have opened for me new perspectives on the
nature of community and communication between human beings,
tending to confirm my suspicion that all my life I have been
unduly intent, excessively serious, demanding intellectual
and emotional commitments which many, if not most people are
unwilling, if not indeed unable to make. I believe, however,
that I am now too old to change.

Please tell me about the films that you will have seen. Be my
eyes and ears, I am too intent on my own projects as I am, to
permit myself to be distracted. Stay well and happy.

Jochen