Dear Marion, Thank you for your telephone call. I'm sorry I had to rush to the airport. I did arrive there in time, 20 minutes before the plane. Here is the letter I composed for my friend Cynthia Behrman. She had asked about the names of various participants in my play. "The dramatis personae of the comedy are Mr. William Ciarmataro, plumbing inspector, Mr. Bernie Bartlett, building inspector, Mr. George X. Pucci, attorney for the Town of Nantucket, Mr. Christopher Michael Gordon, childhood cancer survivor, and plumber to the appellant, and the appellant himself, childhood Nazi survivor, professional persona non grata and lifelong troublemaker for the authorities. No, I haven't heard from Mr. Gordon. He is, understandably, a most reluctant plumber in this performance, in the first place, because there's no plumbing that by honest standards requires to be done, and most importantly because Mr. Gordon has wagered his plumbing business for a measely thousand dollars, and may already have lost it. Consider that the determined Mr. Ciarmataro is demonstrating his power, defying the Massachusetts Court of Appeals by withholding from Mr. Gordon the plumbing permit for 3 Red Barn Road because the property owner is persona non grata. Mr. Ciamartaro has emphatically and angrily voiced his displeasure with Mr. Gordon for his association with the persona non grata and especially for Gordon's impudence in applying for a permit as a prelude to an inspection that would demonstrate the adequacy of the plumbing which Mr. Ciarmataro deems inferior and believes should be condemned uninspected. Consider how Mr. Ciarmataro is likely to deal with Mr. Gordon's next application for a plumbing permit for even the most innocuous customer's installation, - when there's no Massachusetts Appeals Court to reverse the verdicts of the Suffolk Superior Court and of the Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters. And no good lawyer available to file the appeal, and no money for the appeal even if a good lawyer could be found. Why did Mr. Gordon break ranks with his 26 fellow Nantucket plumbers and fail to participate in the boycott of the persona non grata, thereby quite possibly forfeiting his business? In each of my three conversations with Mr. Gordon he has emphasized that he is a childhood cancer survivor who having spent his life in fear of recurrence has learned to be not afraid. That's the secret: as Mr. Gordon has been afraid all these years of the recurrence of cancer so he is now afraid of Mr. Ciarmataro's power to destroy C. M. Gordon Plumbing and Heating. His reaction to fear is a denial that has resulted not only in a show of courage as the essential emblem of survival, but also in a realistic and healthy lack of perseverance in pursuing Mr. Ciarmataro for a plumbing permit. It seems unlikely but not impossible that there will be new developments prior to the March 3, hearing. Meanwhile, I've collected my correspondence with Mr. Pucci in an Internet file. The attached "Appellant's Notice of Internet Exhibits" should speak for itself. I haven't filed it yet, - plan to do so on February 18. It was just four weeks ago today that I sent you a synopsis of Chapter 43 of my novel Die Freunde. I've made a slight modification by providing my protagonist Jonathan Mengs with cubicle in the basement, a chair and a desk, some sheets of blank paper and a pencil with which to outline the jurisprudence which he has discovered - or invented, premised on the insight that law is language - that all language has the propensity of controlling action, and that because language is incapable of expressing (subjective) experience (Erleben), law is predestined to failure. All this is expounded with academic formality. There's no constraint on length, no paper shortage. Underlying is the premise that it is truth - the intellectual apperception of truth which makes us free. In the case of Mengs in his subterranean cubicle, the physical path to freedom described as Chapter 44 begins, is a rickety, flimsy ladder on which Mengs begins his ascent out of the depths. As he proceeds, the ceiling aperture recedes at the same time that the ladder becomes more and more substantial, changes into a staircase, until finally when the horizon of Mengs' gaze rises above the level of the ceiling, the ambience changes. Mengs now finds himself on an elegant carpeted stairway which curves in grandeur to a second level. The cellar from which he has escaped is now no longer visible; the vertigo, the fear of falling into the abyss from which he was arduously ascending has dissipated. The floor below which Mengs now contemplates with equanimity and pleasure is a beutiful mosaic depicting the earth, its snow capped poles, its deep blue oceans and sprawling continents, soaring mountains, green forests and rolling deserts, a panorama as seen from outer space. At the same time, the lobby is crowded with visitors, tourists, sightseers from many countries; there are children racing around in miniature automobiles, fire trucks, ambulances, police cars, even a hearse staffed with funeral attendants. Mengs is relieved that these common folk are not permitted in the higher levels of this magnificent building to which he has access as an academician, a professor and a scholar. The most impressive library Mengs has ever seen. A labyrinth of bookshelves as far as the eye can see. Meticulously polished expanses of hardwood floors, covered with more oriental carpets from the Middle East than Mengs is able to count. Luxurious tables, inlaid with mosaics of precious woods into images of prominent jurists complete with the number of death sentences each has pronounced. Clusters of law students, some in meticulous clothes: the men in tailored suits, starched shirts and elegant ties; the women in demure long dresses, looking except for the missing bonnets like pious Mennonites. These have their counterparts in men with torn and stained dungarees, their shirts unbuttoned revealing hairy chests, with shirt tails fluttering over their hips. And girls with painted fingernails, painted toenails, flaming lips, and very low cut blouses, inviting the inspection of extraordinary cleavage, and minipants so stingy in expanse that Mengs finds very little left to his imagination. Absorbed as he is in the study of a particularly enticing pelvic anatomy, Mengs is startled when he is approached by one of the uniformed waiters whom he has observed not only reshelving books, but also plying the students with refreshments, coffee, tea, cakes chocolates and brandies whose aromas suffuse the air. The waiter, however, seems sympathetic also to that most elementary of human failings, Mengs' absorption in the contours of the female pelvis. The waiter apologizes to Mengs for having interrupted the meditation, and asks what he might do to help. Mengs explains that he is looking for his friend Maximilian Katenus, who, it is said has some association with this august institution, although Mengs is not sure what that association might be. ======================= Must stop now, get ready to fetch Klemens from the airport at 9:52 p.m. In the next letter, I'll tell you more about what was going on in that library, if you really want to know." ======================= So much for my letter to Cynthia Behrman. To you I owe Valentines Day thanks for taking seriously my scribbling, not to speak of myself. I find writing difficult when I'm even a little bit depressed. In my manic phase, I find it glorious, and I suppose I'm fated to carry on indefinitely, for what it's worth. At last count, Die Freunde comprised 320,500 words or about 901 pages. Wer soll denn das alles lesen? I don't know what else to do with myself. Incidentally, I've made substantial changes to the final pages of Chapter 44, and if you're not yet fed up, you might get another printout of the last 128 lines or so. Thank you again for the telephone call. What is your reaction to the proposed posting on the Internet of my negotiations with Nantucket? Jochen _ _ _ Commonwealth of Massachusetts Superior Court _ Suffolk, ss. C.A. No. SUCV2008--5664-E _ _ _____________________________________ _ | _ | _ Ernst J. Meyer, | _ appellant | _ v. | _ Nantucket Building Department | _ and | _ Board of State Examiners of Plumbers | _ and Gas Fitters, | _ respondents | _ _____________________________________| _ _ _ _ Appellant's Notice of Internet Exhibits _ ======================================= _ _ _ The appellant respectfully gives notice that for _ the convenience of the Court, he is placing into a pass- _ word protected Internet computer file, documentation of _ negotiations between the defendant the Nantucket _ Building Department and himself. Unless otherwise ordered _ by the Court, the appellant will update these exhibits _ as negotiations proceed. _ _ To access these exhibits, one types the password: _ _ http://home.earthlink.net/~ernstmeyer/SUCV2008-05664/201102xx_ejm-gp _ _ into the browser's address bar. Alternatively, if obtained _ by e-mail from ernstmeyer@earthlink.net, the password may _ be pasted into the address bar electronically. _ _ If the Court exercises its discretion to seal this _ Notice, these Internet Exhibits, being password protected, _ will be concealed from public view. _ _ _ _ February 18, 2011 Ernst J. Meyer _ pro se _ 174 School Street _ Belmont, Massachusetts 02478 _ 617-484-8109 _ ernstmeyer@earthlink.net _ _ _ _ -2- _ _ _ CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE _ _ I, Ernst J. Meyer, appellant pro se, certify that _ I served the foregoing Appellant's Notice of Internet _ Exhibits to the attorneys of record for both defendants _ by mailing on February 18, 2011, postage pre-paid, true _ copies thereof to _ _ Davis Hadas, Asst. Attorney General _ Office of the Attorney General _ One Ashburton Place _ Boston MA 02108 _ _ George X. Pucci, Esq. _ 101 Arch Street _ Boston MA 02110 _ _ Paul R. DeRensis, Esq. _ Kimberly Saillant, Esq. _ DEUTSCH WILLIAMS BROOKS DERENSIS & HOLLAND, PC _ One Design Center Place, Suite 600 _ Boston MA 02210 _ _ _ _ 174 School Street Ernst J. Meyer _ Belmont MA 02478 appellant pro se _ 617-484-8109 _ ernstmeyer@earthlink.net _