Dear Marion,

Thank you for your letter, and thank you especially for
your account of your subjective state of health. Please
continue to keep me informed, even though, to my distress,
there's nothing except wishing I can do for you.

You're probably correct about the purpose of the Comp Lit
newsletter. I haven't heard anything more from the secretaries,
and I expect no further communications.

Of late, I feel unproductive, probably because melancholy has me
in its grip, albeit only slightly. 

Three days ago, Friday, Klemens, Laura and Leah returned from their
trip to Albuquerque about which I wrote you. Klemens had paid a VIP
visit to the local medical school and hospital which are closely
affiliated with his Dialysis Clinic, Inc. After his professional
obligations were discharged, the three of them went hiking at 8000 ft.
in the northern New Mexico mountains. They came home via St. Louis
just before the tornado touched down at the airport. Saturday they
were off to New Haven where Nathaniel performed as first trumpet in
Mahler's 5th symphony. Nathaniel's spirit is notably mercurial,
oscillating from ecstasy to despair at minimal provocation. I wish
I could disclaim to him some of the emotional ballast which I have
inherited.

My own vacillations concern the prognosis for next Thursday's hearing.
Last Wednesday, when Mr. Pucci's secretary telephoned about the
postponement, I thought it was a lawyer's trick, and I intended to
appear at the hearing notwithstanding the ostensible delay.  However,
the new schedule's listing on the Court's Internet calendar persuaded
me that such an exhibition of distrust was unnecessary.  Still, I
contemplate the possibility that Mr. Pucci might appear on Thursday
next and persuade Judge Tompkins that Mr. Ciarmataro had found me
ignorant and incompetent to a degree that none of my plumbing work
could be relied upon as being code compliant and that therefore for the
sake of public safety, the Judge would order all of it to be torn
out. The plumbing code, in fact, implicitly gives just such discretion
to the Inspector.  Moreover, the informality of an unwritten,
undocumented condemnation would be quite consistent with the irregularity
and absurdity of the proceedings hitherto: e.g. the Attorney General's
claim that the Board of State Examiners of Plumbers was merely a nominal
party to the action. The trial court judge fabricating the facets of my
case to suit his preconceptions of the outcome. Everytime I think of it,
the circumstance that the Appeals Court endorsed these absurdities makes
me shudder. I understand now that they will accept whatever argument
suits their purposes.

Last evening however, I took another look at footnote #13 of the
Appeals Court opinion:

"FN13. The inspection of Meyer's work must be one of integrity and fairness.
A report of any deficiencies must have the substantiation of specific and
detailed findings and reasoning. Any decision resting upon the inspection will
remain subject to review by the Superior Court and appellate courts under the
standards of the Administrative Procedure Act, G.L. c. 30A, § 14(7)(a )-(g )."

from which I conclude that a merely oral, undocumented condemnation
of my character and my work, even if accepted by Judge Tompkins, would
not pass Appeals Court muster.  I wonder if Justice Vuono, who wrote
that opinion, was aware of the extraordinary requirements with which
she was paralyzing the Inspector whose tyrannical decisions are _never_
substantiated with detailed findings and reasoning.

I'm entertaining - and entertained by - the theory that there is a
de facto unspoken sovereign immunity which exempts government officials
from complying with the law, if only because the law and attendant
regulations are so complex that absent such immunity, government would
be paralyzed.  The pervasive illegality of governmental action is mirrorred
in the citizens' systematic disregard of laws and regulations that
cannot be - or are as a matter of policy not enforced. The ensuing
social environment though far from optimal, is not incompatible,
as Darwinists might say, with the survival of the smartest.

Yesterday I drove Margaret to visit her lonely sister Janet who lives
in Sharon MA less than fifty miles away. I've known - and liked - Janet
for sixty-five years. Her life has not been easy, and it's getting more
difficult as she grows older. We had Easter Dinner, then while Margaret
and Janet chatted, I played with my recently acquired laptop computer
and continued writing Chapter 45. The fog in which it has been shrouded
may be lifting.

Meanwhile, I've made some slight progress. Katenus, imprisoned with
Jonathan and Joachim in the Jury Conference Room at the Island Police
Station, dreams that he has been selected to be awarded the Nobel
Prize in literature. However instead of on a plane to Stockholm, he
finds himself on a mixed passenger-freight train winding its way to
a flag-stop near his house in the mountains. Since he will not go
to Sweden, the Svenske Akademien has let it be known that they
will come to him to make the award.  On his arrival on the mountain,
the house is enveloped in fog, and Katenus is smitten with loneliness.
He understands that by accepting the prize he has separated himself
from and forfeitted the friendship of Jonathan and Joachim. He suddenly
remembers that his beloved, Elly, is also separated from him, but she
not from envy but pursuant to a restraining order issued by Chief of
Police Martin Brandes, who has long had his eyes on her, and has now
prohibited her from any contact with Katenus on the grounds that her
excessive affection for and loyalty to him is an affront to public
morality on the Island. Katenus is trapped in his dream house on the
mountain top. He understands he cannot escape because he must host the
Swedes whose visit is impending. He must prepare his acceptance speech.
From the dining room he carries the twelve chairs that circle the
table one by one into the living room where he places them in rows
and columns. Then using a rusty music stand as a lectern, he delivers
his oration to the empty chairs. I plan a speech, perhaps in the style
of an entry in an encyclopedia which translates essential characteristics
of Natur- und Geisteswissenschaften into existential experience. That
exposition still requires much work, but if you have the humor and the
stomach, you can read a preliminary version of Katenus' speech at
home.earthlink.net/~jochenmeyer/freunde/f045.html
but you surely don't have to. It's not a requirement.
The only requirement is to get well.

Jochen