Dart’s letter is chock full of news from Camp Shoemaker. He received a huge package from Dot today, but he’s honoring her request that he not open it until December 25. He’ll honor it as long as he can, but when he gets his orders, he’ll need to stow the contents he’s permitted to take on board with him and send the rest home to Cleveland. That makes his departure seem so near.
This evening, he and a few other guys made use of the cocoa Dot had sent earlier. He hung around the office after his duty was over and decided to skip the inferior meal being served in the mess hall. His group chose to have coffee and sandwiches right there in the office. Chief Wagstaff sent a messenger to round up some sandwich fixings, milk, chips and ice cream. They used the milk to make cocoa on a hot plate and had a tasty little impromptu feast.
He plans to go to a nearby bottling company tomorrow and work for the day. He was able to secure a work permit and the yeoman got him a job, so the two will put in a day and see how much they earn.
With the return of the regular Ship’s Company Yeoman from leave today, Dart lost his temporary office job. Right away Lt. Forbes signed Dart up as Chief Wagstaff’s little helper on his duty days. He’ll take drafts to the warehouse to get them equipped with their overseas gear, recruit work parties, run around with the Chief on inspections, and generally function as his “little flunkie.”
A letter from Fred announces how happy the Marine is on his “little island in the Marianas.” Dart was impressed that the letter took only six days to reach California.
From the sound of Dot’s voice on the telephone, it seems like her cold didn’t stick around too long. He’s happy she was able to get some extra sleep to banish the bug.
He recalls how excited he was when he reached the Cleveland train station on his leave. He doesn’t even recall running up the steps – merely being lifted by the buoyancy of his own emotions. In answer to her question about what new things he learned about her, he says it was mostly, “the same, but more so.” More natural, funnier, sweeter, more playful, etc.
He has warned her about his moodiness, and even demonstrated it in some of his letters, so he hopes she’s prepared when she first sees that characteristic in person. He closes by telling her he sent her a package today with no note enclosed. She knows what’s in his heart, so a note would be superfluous.
Dot’s note is short and silly, written in a kind of Scottish or Irish dialect. After about a paragraph, she begs Dart’s forgiveness and explains that some Irish girl with green eyes was singing on the radio and it ran chills up Dot’s Scottish spine. (How does one know the color of a singer’s eyes over the radio?)
Anyway, she says she’s too tired to write, and there’s no news to write even if she weren’t so tired. She hopes he’ll check back with her tomorrow when she hopes for better luck at writing a decent letter.
