Here’s a 10-page novel from Dot. I guess she had a lot to say after her trip to Ohio and visit with Dart’s parents. She’s homesick for her adopted state already. “Gee, I hope it won’t be too long before I can find another excuse to go out there,” she exclaims.
She’s enclosing some airmail stamps, but demands that he send them back to her as soon as possible. I think he can send V-mail letters for free, but maybe airmail arrives faster.
The first sight she saw this morning after opening her weary eyes was a letter from Dart. It was dated Feb. 4, about the same date as some of the other letters she’s already received, but she is ecstatic to get it, whenever it arrives.
Honoring his frequent request, she enclosed Gordon’s address so Dart can keep an eye out for his ship. As Dot says, there are lots of ships in this Navy, so the odds of finding a particular one in the giant Pacific are slim. Still, it would be fun if these two important men in Dot’s life could meet each other out there.
She remarks about the number of movies Dart has seen onboard ship. Now that he’s assigned to his destroyer, she assumes he may have other things to do. She saw one of the films he mentioned with Deanna Durbin, Can’t Help Singing. Dot quipped, “She certainly can’t! Even when the hero was trying to make love to her, all she did was sing! Of course, it relieved the deadly silence there may have been otherwise, but I think silence has lots to offer in times like that, don’t you?”
Dart has asked her to describe a snow storm to help cool him off. After denying she had the descriptive ability to do that, she did a fair job of telling him about the snowfall that came to Greenwich just before her Ohio trip. Then she told him to feast his eyes on the huge icicle her dad is holding in the enclosed snapshot. “Imagine it dripping down your back. Maybe that will cool you off.”
Referring to one of Dart’s letters in which he called himself a “parasite” for not having done more to earn his Navy benefits, she jokes, “How dare you call Peterson a parasite! He’s a darn ‘site’ better than that. I’d say he’s a monosite.” She apologizes for the bad pun, blaming a lack of sleep. Dart the punster will appreciate that groaner.
She told him that his letters have had a few bits cut out by the censors, but not as much as the ones he wrote to his parents. Even though some of them were full of holes, they all guessed that he was passing some time earlier in the Marianas. Is he able to confirm if they were right?
Dot confesses that no matter how many times she reads his letters, she still marvels at the beautiful way he expresses himself. She thrills to his descriptions of nature, people around him and his own thoughts. “But the thing that thrills me most about your letters is that you’re saying them to me! That of all the millions of girls who would give anything to be your girl, you picked me. Sure you’re crazy, but I’m not going to let you know that until I’ve convinced you that you’re right to have done so.”
Finally! The answer to Dart’s question about the mysterious puff Dot got for Christmas. It turns out a puff is like a comforter, a warm, puffy blanket. It’s nice for her to realize there’s something he doesn’t know.
At this point in the letter, Dot comes down pretty hard on Dart’s doubt about her. She doesn’t mince words when she tells him that he will never receive one of those letters “dipped in sugar,” asking him to release her from her promises because she’s met someone else. She assures him she never makes a promise she cannot keep, and even though she’s a little shy when they’re together, and has a hard time saying the words that convey her feelings, her feelings for him are strong and sincere. She implores him to be patient until the day when she can show him just how much she loves him, and how many ways. “Just pretend the way you feel about me is multiplied by one thousand, and then you’ll have barely scratched the surface of how much I love you.” For a girl who claims to be poor at description and short on words, I’d say she expressed herself pretty well just then.
She agrees with Dart that a second floor on their house will not be necessary. Maybe they could have a partial upstairs that could be finished out in the future, as needed.
Wanting to end the letter before it requires additional postage, she warns him not to get too stoop-shouldered in the destroyer. She likes him nice and tall, just like he is.
