It was a lazy day for Dart. He and his parents went into Chinatown to eat dinner at his folks’ favorite Chinese restaurant. I didn’t know Cleveland had a Chinatown, but maybe it grew up as a result of the railroads that grew so large around that city. He wonders if Dot like Chinese food.
He spoke with a reporter from the News today about the possibility of him doing a feature story about Dart’s model railroad cars. Dart will take some of his best hand-crafted cars to the paper tomorrow for photographs and an interview with the reporter, Christiansen.
While downtown, he bought his train ticket and searched for a scrap book to hold the plans and ideas for their future home. He clipped plans for a sweet little house from the News last night and will include them in the scrapbook.
He adds a funny story: “Remember that time Mom surprised us by coming home early? Tonight, I got back at her. I surprised Mom and Pop in a clinch in the kitchen. Walked blindly into it. After a while, Pop said, ‘Want us to teach you how to do that. You might need to learn.’ I said, “No thanks. You waited too long. I learned a couple of weeks ago.’ Mom countered with ‘You must have learned fast ’cause you looked like experts to me.’ I told her it hadn’t taken us long to become pretty good at it.”
And now he must sleep, and she must wait “for the rest of the 10 billion words I’d like to write to hint a little at how much I love you and miss you.”
Like Dot, he wishes he could sleep until their separation is over.
He fills in the back of a page with a rough sketch of the house plans he found.
Dot writes a quick note before class, followed later by a three-pager.
She writes, “I feel ever so much more sure of myself in English since we got some of our papers back. One was marked ‘very good,’ and the other ‘superior work.’ (Mind if I blow my own whistle for a few moments?) We had another tough assignment last night, so perhaps I’d better keep my big mouth shut ’til we get the results of that work.” There she goes again, doubting her abilities in the face of strong evidence that she’s well equipped to succeed.
She dreads saying goodbye to him on Saturday, but she’ll try to be philosophical by remembering her mother’s words, “If he doesn’t go back, how can he get out of the Navy?” She prays his discharge comes as quickly as Gordon’s did. I suspect it won’t. Gordon had more time on active duty than Dart, plus he nearly lost his arm in battle. Dart has not been so “lucky.”
She begins the next letter of the day with a wish that she could call him while she still has the chance. Her second paragraph finds her sulking again because she did call, but there was no answer. She hopes he’s having a good time, wherever he is.
She stopped by the dispensary at school today to se if she could collect a Purple Heart for her thumb. While the doctor doubted that was possible, he did give her a diagnosis: ringworm. He dressed it with a salve and instructed her to return every second day so he could change the dressing. He predicts she’ll survive, but she’ll have an ugly nail for a while.
Dart’s fiance just had 10 years cut off her life when the doorbell rang and someone yelled, “It’s a sailor!” Although she knew the improbability that it was him, she flew to the door to find one of her housemates with a jaunty sailor cap atop her head.
Dot begins to bemoan the fact that this may be the last letter she’ll send to his parents’ address, but she stops herself. The last several weeks have been so perfect, and their lives are working out so well that she refuses to complain or ask for more. She’s confident that everything they hope for will come to pass – she just hope it’s soon!
She tells a funny story that happened in her house last night. “Eleanor had put a quart of milk on the window sill and asked Phyllis to see if it was cold yet. Phyll went over, and thinking there was a screen on the other side, pushed the milk bottle right off the edge and onto the ground. When we awakened this morning we found a note Janie had written: ‘The management requests that guests will please pay particular attention to food left on the window sills. Pedestrians are complaining.'” The girls have shown great ingenuity when it comes to managing food and meals in their house, but I guess they’ll have to learn to be more careful!
She tells Dart that she has come to the realization that his puns are not the worst in the world. Last night, Mid called to her from the bathroom, saying, “Dot, please come here and wash your hands. They’re ‘Darty.'”
After another unsuccessful attempt to call Dart, she sits in for a while on a discussion the girls are having. The topic is one she’s not too keen on – as she thinks Dart will understand. Listening to the girls, she’s even more grateful for Dart’s high standards and ideals. It’s my sincere belief that his are no higher than hers, which is one thing that makes them a perfect match.
