August 23

                Dear John,

               After you left, and came back, and after you started working,
         why didn’t you tell me where you were?  With all of our exchanges,
         we could have stopped trying to marry other people.  Maybe we would
         have tried to decide whether we were going to marry each other,
         instead!
               That might have kept us from our trend of finding wrong marriages
         for each of us, whether it would be few or many of them.  I don’t know
         if a bad marriage wouldn’t be worse over the years.  I’m glad you came
         back after leaving me—but I can’t believe how much time it’s been.

                                                                       with Love,

                                                                                         

John. is home.  He’s had a tough few months, when you think about it.  I knew it would be a happy marriage with his life-long girlfriend that detained him, and he was apprehensive of that probability.  I think it’s harder, being older, than setting out for the unknown.  The good thing about John., is that he is as aware of time.  He also has his deliberating side.  He's mad and back in politics already; by now, it’s the entire country up and riotous.  He’s resigned to the tug and pull of it.