Dear Bob and Lew,
When I returned home from WorldCon
with the kids on Monday I opened the letter you sent to my attorney.
I have to say that I was hurt.
I didn’t know anything about your
party until I was presented with the two letters, copies of which I
sent to you. I called Bob on July 30th from my attorney’s office
five minutes after reading them to ascertain what was happening. I
wasn’t even sure, at that point, that the ‘event’ referred to
was at your home. I had to ask Bob if that was your address.
Bob told me during that conversation
that he had had lunch with Craig some time earlier and, when he
learned that Craig had not received an invitation suggested that
perhaps the invitation went to my home instead of Craig’s office.
This may well have been the cause for Craig’s letters from his
attorney to mine. But as you know, the invitation was not sent to
me. It went to Craig’s office where it was, evidently, lost.
I asked Bob for a verbal invitation
because I felt that Craig was using your party to create the
appearance that you were taking sides. I think this because of
Craig’s previous actions. Craig tried to have me excluded from the
LPC convention in February using Michael Cloud Emerling as an agent.
I include a letter Jack Dean wrote about those events for you to
read.
I was sure, from what Bob said, that
you had no desire to create such an appearance. I assured Bob I
could not and would not attend, telling him about my plans, of long
standing, to attend WorldCon. But issuing a verbal invitation would,
I felt, be a way of saying, “Melinda is our friend, too, even
though she was not invited to this event.” That was all I wanted.
If I had not believed an invitation
had been issued I would not have told anyone I was invited. But I
also the one or two people I mentioned the matter to I would not be
attending. I, in fact, told them I would be at WorldCon. I would not
have attended, even though I believed I had received a verbal
invitation, because I told Bob I would not - and because it would
have been impossible for me to do so anyway. I was at WorldCon, in
Baltimore.
When I landed on Sunday, the 9th at
6:30pm I still had to drive out to Pomona to pick up my son, Ed, at
his rehabilitation facility. (He is improved since his suicide
attempt in March, but still partially paralyzed on the left side.
The brain injury is more troublesome. But there is improvement.) I
arrived there at 8pm, repacked the car to squeeze in his wheel chair
and walker and from there drove my other son, Justin, to summer camp
in Frazier Park. I arrived home at 1:30am, Monday morning, August
10th. I slept most of the next day, except for caring for Ed and
taking him to medical appointments and taking myself to the same.
Frankly, I have not had the time to
think about much of a social life. Craig’s dramatics seem
foolishly self-indulgent to me.
You two have an absolute right to
decide who to invite to events in your home. My actions throughout
the years speak for themselves. I respect the rights of others, even
when they conflict with my own desires - which is the only time such
assurances matter, of course.
In the conversation I had with Bob I
asked him to call me directly if he had any questions regarding what
I had said or done. I really wish I had been called before you wrote
that letter. I hope in the future, if other questions arise, ( hope
they will not) you will call. So that you can always get me on the
phone here is my cell number: (805) 452-0058.
You have both been my friends for many
years and I know that this horridness, too, will pass. Someday, I
sincerely hope, we will laugh about this.
Regards,
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