Dear Marion,

Margaret and I consider it important and valuable that you and we
should, after so many years and after so much intervening fate, again
meet face to face. There's no reason why Margaret and I shouldn't plan
to leave Konnarock no later than July 20, arriving in Belmont on
July 21, giving us one day to unpack and reorganize. I could then 
meet your flight from Paris when it arrives at Logan Airport;
you could stay in our house in Belmont however long you wished;
we could drive you to Truro at any time that you wished, and perhaps
retrieve you from Truro for additional time in Belmont.  If the court's
decision had been favorable, and if you were game, we could also go to
Nantucket.  For the week beginning August 2, my daughter-in-law Laura
has rented a small house elsewhere on the Island, - and Klemens
would like Margaret and me also to be there in our own unfinished,
unpartitioned, but very spacious house.

If you so decide, please let me know the time and the flight no. of
your arrival. In that case please also make contingency plans for the
event that Margaret or I or the car should conk out before getting
back to Belmont. Keep in mind that it's 850 miles from Konnarock;
the car is old, and two characters making the trip are very old,
moderately crippled, and somewhat crazy.

My apologies for not replying to your letter last evening.
Yesterday was somewhat hectic, at least by my lackadaisical
standards. In the morning, the visit from Mr. Gary Hayes,
who likes to be called Ben, a compact, bearded sixty-five year
old man, accompanied by his wife, who declared herself a special
friend of Margrit's.  After extensive reminiscences  about my
father and my mother, whose memeory, according to Ben, was still
vivid on the minds of many of the villagers, Ben, his wife, and
I waded through the tall grass, still wet from the morning dew,
to look at the vandalized trees, which Ben agreed posed some
threat to the house, and which he promised to start cutting down
beginning next Thursday morning at 9 o'clock. We agreed that he
would work as an "independent contractor", and that I should not
purchase workmen's compensation insurance for his work.

After my initial meeting with Ben, I had planned to drive to
Chilhowie, Abingdon and probably Bristol, to purchase additional
shelving for Margrit's books; but as I started to get into the car,
I saw the left front tire to be flat. I had difficulty, as
anticipated, in loosening the nuts that secure the wheel to the
lugs on the axle. My arms no longer have sufficient strength,
but I solved that problem with a three feet long section of one
inch galvanized iron pipe which when slid over the end of the lug
wrench made an extension with sufficient leverage to loosen the
stubborn nuts. The rest of the tire change was uneventful, but I
decided to postpone my trip to town from Saturday afternoon to
Monday morning when tire repair shops would be much more likely
open and eager for work.  The rest of the day I devoted to
clearing the western lawn of the piles of brush that Ronnie had
left.  Later today, when the grass has dried, I'll start mowing.

These vagaries of our day to day existence dramatize its
unpredictability apropos especially your visit to Boston. Our
plans for the summer hinge on the appellate court decision
concerning the Nantucket plumbing. The court's procedures,
to put it mildly, are leisurely. I understood the Clerk to
mutter that subsequent to the hearing, which was on February 10,
they had 130 days to issue an opinion. As of today, 111 days
have elapsed. If I trusted them to abide by their own rules, -
they never do - I could expect a decision within the next 19 days.

Margaret and I plan to return to Belmont about June 22.
I have patients scheduled for June 29. We expect to return
to Konnarock the week of July 4, so as to be here on July 12,
when Klemens, Laura, Rebekah, Nathaniel, Benjamin and Leah
arrive. You may remember that we had scheduled a memorial concert
for Margrit for Bastille Day, a scheme which proved to be beyond
both my organizational capacity and social tolerance. Klemens and
his family will drive back to Belmont on July 17 or 18.
As soon as we have neatened the house and packed our own belongings,
Margaret and I will follow them, looking forward to your visit on
returning from France.  If the appeals court has seen fit to unlock
the Nantucket toilets, Margaret and I intend to spend as much of
the rest of the summer working on the Nantucket house. If, on the
other hand, the appeals court rules against me, I would stay in
Belmont only long enough to file an application, most likely destined
to be denied, for the next stage of the appeal.

If you're in doubt whether you want to come to Belmont on July 23,
should we try to untangle our plans on the telephone? The number here
is 276-388-3111.

Jochen