Holly:

You asked about AOL (America OnLine). As you know, Paul, Drury, Roger, and I have AOL accounts (and Stuart is now reachable through AOL via the internet - see next card). It's easy to join, easy to use, and not TOO expensive.

All you need is your trusty Mac and an ordinary modem (any modem will do - a basic modem can be had for under $100). You also need the AOL software, which is FREE. In fact, as soon as I have your new address I will ship you an official startup kit.

The fee, I believe, is $10 a month. If you use more than 5 hours a month you will be charged an additional $3/hour. Unlike other services, there are NO extra surcharges.

When I first joined I racked up several hundred dollars a month (you may recall that I was living alone in a cabin and soon became very busy falling in love with Betsy). Since then my AOL bill has stablized at about $20/month.

I think it's money well spent. In addition to meeting Betsy (and many other friends as well) I use AOL every day to exchange Alexander notes and programs with Paul, work with my Newton developer friends in Montana, download photographs from the Smithsonian, distribute my shareware creations, send reviews into Wired Magazine, receive emergency transmissions from tardy Archipelagoans, broadcast holiday greetings, send notes to Betsy at work, join online family reunions, keep abreast of the latest computer developments, find goodies to distibute to the rest of archipelago, look up words in the encylopedia, and chew the fat with people from across the country when I can't sleep at three in the morning. AOL is now vast beyond all comprehension and growing vaster by the day.

I highly recommend it.