Dear Marion,

Thank you for your letter with its account of "Mary and Max".
I admire the catholic quality of your interests and tastes, 
a versatility with which I can't begin to compete, and which
I am far too old to begin to acquire. There's no alternative:
it's you on whom the burden of seeing, understanding and learning
from the films must fall. My share comes to me strictly by proxy.

Your description of the Minneapolis Jewish Community Center
is a vivid reminder of the gregariousness of human nature.
In this respect also, the differences in personalities are
important to recognize, and sometimes difficult to accept.
I think about Margrit and about what I have lost.

Her death is a persistent and compelling reminder that I must
put my own affairs in order. Having begun with attempts to
make the accumulated possessions of a lifetime in attic, basement
and garage storage more accessible, I am now trying to make
certain that when I die the legal and financial affairs I
leave behind will be as manageable as possible for my survivors.

I find it perplexing that "money" is something one does not
talk about, - except of course in the clinical setting when
one discloses ones darkest secrets to ones lawyer. My explanation:
that for most persons money (much like sex) is the locus where
subjective and objective, inward and outward experience are 
inextricably entwined. A candid discussion of money is taboo.
Also taboo, - or very foolish, - is a candid discussion of the
law, which as close reading of every judicial decision will
disclose, is impenetrably obscure. Its rationality is a veneer
beneath which the strong abuse the weak. Candid analysis of
ones legal situation would be a roadmap revealing to the
adversary those facets of ones fortifications that might most
readily be breached.

I share your intuition that our economy is coursing toward
inflation, the question in my mind being not whether but how
soon and how severe. Inflation is the debtor's revenge against
the creditor. It's a godsend to the individual, the company 
and the nation that is deeply indebted. I don't own any long
term bonds, but if I did, I would sell them before they lost
value. I don't know, how the dividend paying companies (CTL
and T) whose stocks I have recently bought will fare in an
inflationary environment, arguably in the ensuing financial
chaos, they might be crushed with other assets. Optimally,
their indebtedness would be largely wiped out, and they might
be able to increase both their charges to customers and their
dividends to stockholders, keeping pace with inflation.  If
flowery language could dictate reality, I'd have it made.

Jochen