There’s a lot happening with Dart’s correspondance today. First, a final postcard sent from Lake Sunapee where de describes the cottage he thinks might belong to her family. He is as smitten by the lake as Dot hoped he would be. The next letter is written that afternoon after the boys return to Norfolk for a final tour of the Haggard. Finally, a letter giving her his new address for when he’s assigned to a new ship very shortly. Let’s look at that first letter from Norfolk.

He learned through a phone call to Dot’s family from Penn Station today that the cabin he thought might be theirs was not the right one, but he reinterates how much he loves the lake nonetheless.

Now he and Hal Martin have learned they are on the 5:30 transfer list; perhaps that’s the list that will be posted at 5:30? I’m not really sure.  He has very little time before taking the bus to the receiving station here at the navy yard. That’s where he hopes to learn a little more about what comes next.

He thanks her for the wonderful snapshots she included in the letter that was awaiting his return to camp. His love for her continues to grow, and in equal measure, his longing for her. He counts himself immeasurably lucky to have won the heart of a girl such as her. While he packs his bag, she should consider herself tenderly kissed and greatly missed.

In the secondl etter, he’s able to give her his new mailing address at Norfolk. The new information he received is that he has 27-1/4 points and anyone with fewer than 39 points must return to sea duty, unless he has more than three years at sea. Dart’s overseas pay increase was suspended this morning until he gets another ship.

The Haggard has been chopped and cut all over her decks now. Dart says that in a few weeks, his ship will be an ex-ship. Now he’s heard that the men will have some choice in the kind of ship they get assigned to next. If that turns out to be a true rumor, he’s unsure how he’ll respond. Would another distroyer feel more like “home,” or would he prefer the new experience of a different type of ship? “I’ll be dissatisfied either way because I have a bad case of discharge fever, and I’m not afraid to admit it.”

After going into a lot of detail about the nice, new barracks he’s staying in tonight, he bids her an affectionate farewell. “Wish we could enjoy this moon together. Perhaps we are enjoying it together, only not with each other. I like to think so, anyway.”

At least this moon can be enjoyed while they are both in the same time zone. For now, it looks like another adventure is about to begin and another separation is inevitable.

Dot’s letter is a mostly silly, rambling thing. She went to lecture/poetry reading tonight by Robert Frost. I’m envious that she actually got to hear one of my favorites read his own work. Anyway, she has to write an essay on him for English tomorrow, as well as study for biology.

There’s a little news on the school front; she got an A on her first science test and an S on every English theme she’s received back. But the big news is that Miss Garnett, the nasty English professor noticed Dot’s diamond today and complimented her on her beautiful ring. To Dot’s surprise, she even smiled when she said it!

Roommate Eleanor has taken to being a brat toward Dot. Last night she turned all of Dart’s photos face down and threw the photos of Dot’s parents on the floor. Tonight she’s whistling while Dot tries to write this letter, knowing how much it bugs Dot. Through it all, our heroine is just ignoring her, pouring her wrath out on the paper instead of confronting the roomie and escalating the situation.

Lacking much else to say, she made a pretense of chastising Dart for his lapse in a recent letter. Although he’s shown a strong tendancy toward expressing his love for Dot over nearly two years, she couldn’t help but notice that he neglected to place his stamp on upside down on a recent letter. Remember that trick she taught him way back near the beginning of their relationship? There was a kind of pop language of stamps that developed around the time of WWII, including the secret meaning “I love you” indicated by an upside down stamp on a letter.

Reminding him of her love, she settles down to study.