Dart remarks that either Dot’s services as a babysitter are in high demand, or there is a serious shortage of “girl power” in the Greenwich area – “Maybe as big a shortage as there is around here,” he quips.

He’s pleased that she’s learning to drive, and asks what kind of car the Chamberlains have that it can destroy a stone wall with little damage to itself – “A Jeep, maybe?”

He proposes they drop the subject of kissing Miss Riehl, one of his nurses. That means he’d have to also kiss the rest of his many nurses so they wouldn’t feel left out. He wonders why Dot asked if Miss Riehl was leaving. “Did you ever think that maybe I’d be the one leaving?”

Speaking of leaving, he should know tomorrow if he gets out of the hospital on Saturday. He has high hopes, as well as deep love for Dot.

Dot’s brief letter begins with an answer to Dart’s question about long vs short engagements. She states that if a boy and girl get engaged when they are very young (18-22) then a three to four year engagement would be wise. If a couple doesn’t get engaged until they are much older, then why waste any more time? She reports that her parents were engaged for three years, her sister Harriet for six months, and brother Gordon for two weeks, so she has a range of examples in her family.

She goes on to tell him that something mysterious is afoot regarding her Friday night party, but she can’t squeeze anything out of anybody. She’s getting off work at 2:00 today; she’s collecting double time off for the overtime hours she put in during the recent sales. She says time is nice, but she’d prefer the cash!

She tells Dart that she sold her bike yesterday. She’d bought it for $10.00 about 5 years ago and sold it “all scratched up and everything” for $17.50. I guess that’s wartime inflation working to her advantage.