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Nov 6, 54 Dear Lorraine, From Gertrude and Paul I hear that you were briefly in Chicago, and intended to winter again in Florida. Now's as good a time as any to start beseeching you to detour a little and visit me. It would be a memorable change for me, to see some faces from outer space; my relations with my fellow penitents are pleasant enough, but the same visages (with the same messages: day on day eventually pall, and the meetings and exchanges of convicts become as ritualistic and predictable as a Kabuki play the tenth time around. Also, I assume that a visit to this unusual-type joint might be of interest to you. You will hear our concert brass band, which plays in the visitor's park daily-one of the unusual features of Raiford is the visiting system. No wire mesh between me and my loved ones, rather a pleasant little pavilion where one may spread an al fresco lunch amid nodding palms. Such an arrangement presumes, of course, that you will not come loaded down with hacksaws, bombs, and booze. Easy does it, chéri.

 You will also see how sleek and contented I am, living my calm monastic existence with my music, my books, and my geraniums, the world well lost. Along that line, I'm eligible for parole the 18th of this month. I've asked the Warrens, since they live near him, to ask Dolf Loeb if he would care to help me in this matter. It may not be so, but I have an idea that letters pertaining to parole receive perhaps quicker attention from the parole board if they come from a lawyer. Perhaps it's too much of an imposition, though, and if necessary I can probably handle