Dart’s letter begins where yesterday’s left off- pulling together some loose ends in his response to Dot’s earlier letter. He’s compelled to correct her assumption that it was his uncle who was the spaghetti expert;  it is, in fact his dad. He cautioned her not to pin too much hope on his getting sick leave, even though Dr. Gordon tells him every day that his chances of getting approved are good.

Having once mentioned to Dot about the plethora of juvenile cards he receives from one of his maided aunts, he now remarks about an absurd get-well card he received from someone who signed herself “Great Aunt Dottie.” He wrote “I never had a Great Aunt Dottie. It’s just like some elderly jane with a spiked coke in her to try and make some sailor with a thing like that! The strangest thing about the card was that on the back was a note from you!”

He reported that her letter, postmarked at 5:00 PM on the 22nd arrived at his bedside at 2:00 PM on the following day. Pretty good service from the post office, I’d say.

He continues in a sarcastic tone about what a great world it is. “I write her pretty letters, trying to woo her, and what does she do? She tells me my vocabulary makes her feel stupid!”

Referring to the “candy” episode perpetrated on Dot by some art students, he writes a page of “Tips form the Kitchen” about food pranks she might use in retaliation.

Almost as an aside, he mentions that he had a swollen gland earlier in the week, presumably caused by the pneumonia. After the gland returned to normal size, his leg was in so much pain they had to keep him seriously doped up to get through it. “Now my left thigh is the size and shape of a beer keg and you could cut raw meat with the right thigh.” Because of the diagnosis of phlebitis, he’s been placed back on the serious list, but only because Dr. Gordon wants him to get extra care so that his leave won’t be delayed. He still hasn’t been out of bed for days, except for a few harrowing minutes while his sheets were changed one day. How can he be ready for leave any time soon?

Posted in the corner of Dot’s letter is a 10-cent war stamp which she has labeled “To be used for the precise purpose of keeping Peterson alive in Navy hopitals.” She hopes a dime will do the trick and that he’ll be out soon. She’ll still continue to buy war stamps because she has a brother in the Navy, too.

She scolds him for letting a fever get the best of him. “I thought we had an understanding – you’re to get completely well.”

She mentions that last night one of her housemates who was just returning from a weekend at home came in to tell Dot about an interesting find she made in a trunk at her parents’ house. It was a wedding announcement for the marriage of Helen Burke and Dart Ganes Peterson! (It took place in June 1920.) Wrote Dot, “Does it sound familiar, or weren’t you around when all this took place?”

She would love to grant his request to send some of those oatmeal cookies her housemates made, but she doesn’t want to insult his stomach. They were terrible! She takes back almost everything she said about being the worst cook. She can at least manage to make decent desserts!

She alerted him to the fact that she had mailed him a package today. It was some inexpensive stationery they had at her store. She says it’s not worthy of him, but she hopes he’ll find some use for it – like writing to her.