There is a letter today from a friend of the fiancee'. Someone I evidently met while they were home on leave. He is stationed in Baltimore, MD, and is hoping to ship out for Germany soon. Apparently the reason he joined the Army. See the world, and all that. He describes Baltimore as "a good city...many foreign and art films, avant garde plays (Albee, Genet, etc.)" According to his letter, I had written him one (at his request or Larry's, I have no idea - I would not have just up and written to him. I wasn't quite that kind of girl!) But somewhere he has gotten the idea that I am "intelligent" and wants me to write him an essay. He even suggests topics: "Apathy and Indifference of the Masses." "Hypocrisy of the Church." "The Reality of Cannonball." That last would be a reference to Cannonball Adderly. Look him up. "Wordsworth - A Study in Finksmanship."

I don't think I ever wrote him an essay. That last topic kinda put me off my feed (as it does now), because I liked Wordsworth, still do, and don't understand what he means by "finksmanship." Not that I would have argued with him. I would have regarded anyone going to avant garde plays as my intellectual superior by far. I was probably too insecure to write him any damned essays. I would have been too insecure to ask him what he means by "finksmanship." I would have thought that if I were as cool as he were (I didn't go to avant garde plays - there weren't any in Carthage, IL), that I would KNOW what he meant. That I didn't had to mean I wasn't nearly cool enough to even write to this guy. At least that's what I think happened. Could be other letters prove me wrong.

He asks for my picture. Hmmmm....Exactly how good a friend was he, anyway? Wonder if I sent one.