Dear Cyndy,

It's much too late for a decent letter. Too tired for
anything more taxing than copying slides. As you requested,
I'm attaching a sample of what I've been doing, the
counterfeit of someone you know.

Thirty six hours were required for me to adjust to the
new legal situation. While I'm pleased that the plumbing
doesn't have to be torn out - yet, - I'm also sensitive to
the intellectual crudity of the decision of the Appeals Court,
its inability to come to terms with the depravity both of the
plumbing board and of the Town, toying with the pretense that 
evidence presented at a hearing could turn a sow's ear into a 
silk purse. As I read it, the Ciamataro inspection report is 
an aggregate of unproved and unprovable generalizations;
what the Appeals Court seems really to be imposing on the
plumbing board is a directed verdict. It doesn't want to
usurp the role of the plumbing board. It wants to teach the
plumbing board a lesson. That strategy entails the opportunity 
for more obfuscation and more fabrication.

There's an eerie consequence of the Appeals Court ruling.
In mandating yet another Plumbing Board hearing, the court
furnished an imperative for our return to Belmont. Until the 
decision was announced I entertained, at the back of my mind, 
the fancy that just maybe we wouldn't find it possible - or 
necessary to return. Now that even minimal uncertainty is 
obviated. Once more, with respect to the apparent  proclivity 
of the courts for procedures of unending length, I fantasize 
that when the case ends, I'll promptly die; and that "the law's
delay" not to speak of "the insolence of office" is what's
keeping me alive.

As I survey the legal and administrative landscape, my conviction
is confirmed that the little people's lust for power makes the
world go round, - that's true for the Appeals Court judges as well
as for Mr. Ciarmataro. Am I deluding myself that I'm better off
as a private individual not lusting after public power, and
satisfied to preserve my economic status not by making a killing
on the markets but by turning down the thermostat?

It's a strange world, - and we are strange creatures. I consider 
that an apposite thought for telling you good night.

Jochen