Here’s another light-hearted offering from Dot, short on news, but long on affection.
She says she spends a lot of time wondering where he is and what he’s doing. She guesses she’ll be wondering a mighty long time. She asks for his promise that when this war is over and they’re sitting in front of that big fireplace they plan for their home, he’ll tell her about his ocean voyage and what the guys talked about to pass the time. She’ll also tell him what she talked about that kept her roommates awake all night. “By the time I tell you, it will have become a reality and no longer ‘just talk.'”
She asks how he likes the big ocean. “Do they heave out the anchor on your lunch hour so all the boys can take a dip; or do they just throw out tow ropes for you to hang on to as you glide along? Even though you’re on a ship, it is possible to travel ‘by rail’ you know, or haven’t you been sea-sick?” I love this little paragraph. It makes me smile to think of a Navy ship arranging a pleasant outing so the “boys” can have a little swim time during their lunch break, like a boat picnic on a lake. I can also envision a few greenish young men hugging the ship’s railing as they heave their stomach contents ,”riding the rail.”
She hopes this reaches him by his birthday and that he has an extra special one. She seems pretty impressed that he’ll be 21. She’s glad he was still underage in November or he would have voted for the wrong candidate. She hopes to have enough influence over him by the next election that he’ll change his political views. As it turned out, the political leanings of these two kids grew to be very similar over the years. Ironically, they both ended up much more closely aligned to Dart’s current views than Dot’s.
Tonight Dot saw “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” with the girls. If he happened to catch a whiff of something foul, it was the movie. The lead singer looked and sounded like Frank Sinatra, who for some reason Dot detests. That’s another of her youthful opinions that was subject to change in later years.
Her mother stopped by Franklin Simons today and one of Dot’s co-workers told Ruth that she can always tell if Dot got a letter from Dart when she went home on her lunch break. “She’s getting to be able to tell by the color of my cheeks and the twinkle in my eye whether or not I’ve been talking about you. When it shows that much, it just has to be love!”
She tells Dart that if the Navy could build a ship big enough to carry all her love, it would make the Queen Mary look like a life raft. Tonsillectomy sends her regards and promises to write when she’s caught up on her studies.
Once again, there are no letters tomorrow, but on January 8th, both Dot and Dart return.
