Old Faithful writes again! This letter from Dart begins with the announcement that another day has flown by quickly because he had a job to do. There’s no mention of what that job was, but he believes that keeping busy makes time pass faster, and that’s fine with him.
As he writes, some of the guys are lounging around looking at each other’s photo albums and talking about the future. They all have similar plans – marriage, a house, education and a job. Marriage seems to be of the most immediate interest to the men, but then they worry about how they’ll support a family. The worst part is they can’t discuss the priorities with their fiancees or would-be fiancees, nor with experienced older folks who might help them sort it all out. “We’ll have to wait and see what conditions are if and when we all return to our complacent life ashore, far from the Navy blue and white.”
Speaking of Navy, he remarks that in a long-ago letter, Dot said she didn’t care what he wore in his civilian life, as long as it wasn’t Navy blue. I think she meant that she didn’t want to see him in uniform after the war, but he took a different meaning. He thinks she has some aversion to the color and warns her that the only suit he owns is actually a navy blue shade. He assures her that by the time he gets released and can wear civvies, that suit won’t be good for much except the Salvation Army for a homeless veteran hero, or for shining shoes or waxing a car. I think it’s interesting that they had homeless veterans in 1945 and that Dart actually crossed out “veteran” and re-wrote “hero.” Sounds like modern times.
He comments that she seems a trifle obsessed about him meeting an Australian girl. He goes to some lengths to assure her that even if such an unlikely thing should happen, he’d be a darned fool to mess up the best thing in his life with the best girl in the world. He’s totally in love with the girl from Greenwich.
The plans for the house are nearly ready for her perusal, but he has a few questions about a bath upstairs. Do they need one? Could it be built out at a later date, if needed?
He bemoans another Easter coming when they won’t be together, but he expresses great hope that someday, they’ll celebrate all the holidays of their lives together. He ends with “I love you only, always.”
Dot’s full of news about her new business. She and El have received about 15 calls as a result of their newspaper ad. Tonight she’s sitting for a new customer and Sunday, she and El will be serving a dinner party at the home of Stanford White, a famous architect. When they said in the ad “assist at dinner parties,” they intended it to mean serve and clean up. Instead they’re getting lots of calls to actually cater the events. With typical “can-do” verve, they’ve dived head-first into catering.
She confesses to missing him “like sixty.” It’s been 16 days since she’s heard from him. Of course, she doesn’t blame him. She only wants him to know how much she misses him. Next to him being there, his letters are the best boost to her disposition.
Although she hasn’t written to him very often due to a lack of things to write about, she did write to his family right after her trip to Ohio. She still hasn’t heard from them. She asks that when he writes to them he remind his parents that they owe her a letter. She jokes that she’ll not stand for this kind of abuse much longer.
Having finished reading “The Razor’s Edge,” she’s moved on to “Jane Eyre,” which she says she should have read ages ago when she thought she had it rough at Andrews School.
She recalls that 17 weeks ago tonight, they were enjoying a delicious spaghetti dinner together in Cleveland during Dart’s whirlwind leave. Now, as she wraps up the letter in preparation for her client to come home, she wishes that he were with her now and that they could hold hands as he walked her up the stairs.
