When the mail deliveries start, they come in a flood. Dart got five letters from Dot today, plus three more from other folks. Finally, the one bearing the news that she was too young to enlist brought the sheer relief Dart was hoping for. He admits to feeling like a heel because she is so disappointed and he is so very happy.

He loves the Easter photos she sent. One of the old married men in his group was very impressed with the picture of Dot and El in their Easter finery. When he said he’d like a date with either one of those gorgeous sisters, Dart let him know that Dot was spoken for (by him) and El was engaged to a young soldier.  Dart was especially fond of the photograph where Dot is wearing her “Ipana” smile and the corsage he sent.

He promises to learn to dance when he gets home for good. He likes to dance, and he wants to dance with her always. He looks forward to all the practice they’ll need to do together. (Anything to get his arms around her, I’d say!)

As he continues to answer that long-ago letter, he wonders what the story is behind her swimming in an outdoor pool in March with all her clothes on. He knows it would have required far more than a $5.00 bet for him to do something like that.

Yes, he tells her there was someone wearing that sequinned dress he took to a school dance. They had two dates, neither of which was much fun. Dot has seen her photo in his high school annual, and that’s all that needs to be said on the subject.

He explains that in a few days the ship is having an all-out inspection of the decks and below-deck spaces. Everyone is working full bore with paint brushes, soapy water and elbow grease. Because I know that the Haggard has been crippled and towed to dry dock, I’m curious why they would be undergoing such a heavy-duty inspection. Perhaps it’s to give the guys work to do while they await the fate of their ship. Must maintain that Navy discipline!

That’s all he has time for tonight, except to dream of their future together and wonder how long they’ll have to wait until their dreams come true.

When Dot was walking home from work last night, her mailman passed her in his car and held two fingers out of his window. Since she’d already received a letter from Dart yesterday morning and since afternoon deliveries of his letters are rare, Dot thought the mailman was just teasing her. Surprise! There were two letters from Dart waiting for her when she got home! “And what swell letters they were! Filled with the kind of thing every girl loves to read. Gee, but I love you!”

She says that if he doesn’t get the letter she wrote on April 10 soon, they will all go nuts. She fully expects more letters to arrive any day telling her not to join the WAVEs.

Just between the two of them, Dot would rather see spring in Ohio than in Greenwich. Maybe it’ll work out by the time she’s an old woman, she jokes.

Mr. Miller must have been discouraged about Dart not getting back to the States soon enough because he sold his old bike which he’d offered to let Dart ride next time he was in town. Dot says he shouldn’t fret. By the time he gets out her way, maybe she’ll have bought the little Crosley car she’s always wanted. A girl can dream, can’t she?

She shares Dart’s wish that she could be in on the planning discussions for their little house. She knows absolutely nothing about planning and building houses, but Harriet and George built their own home by all by themselves, and Harriet is grateful for the skills and knowledge she acquired in the process. From what Dot can tell from the drawings, the bedrooms seem a a little small. Is he able to incorporate some of the hallway space into bedroom square footage? She’ll enclose some plans she found in McCall’s this month for a kitchen/laundry combo. Maybe he can garner some new ideas from there.

She’s also enclosing a small clipping of the actor Walter Abel. Both she and Dart think he bears a striking resemblance to Dart, Sr.

He will get no argument from Dot about what a nice name “Mrs. Dorothy Peterson” is.  She also likes “Mrs. D. G. Peterson, Jr.” She’s tickled that he, too, likes to spend his time writing that name over and over again.

She resumes the letter very late that same day, after enjoying an evening rain shower and a beautiful sunset. “it may be tomorrow where you are now, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to get some ‘shut-eye’ before tomorrow rolls around these parts.” She reminds him how much she loves him and then signs off.