Dart writes two letters today. The first tells of his liberty the night before with Hal and Ira. They had a nice spaghetti dinner in town, saw a mediocre movie and then had dinner again. (Pork chops this time.) They also bought their new sets of campaign ribbons, including their victory ribbon. The Haggard crewmen had put off buying ribbons until the final moment of their ship’s life, hoping until the end they would receive a Presidential Unit Citation for their destruction of an enemy submarine and their saving of another ship. Alas, the citation did not come.

None of this trio of friends has much interest in going out on liberty again tonight.

The second letter follows his impromptu phone call to Dot. It had the opposite effect he was hoping for, because now he’s more miserable than he was before talking to her. He’s lonely, bored, discouraged and disgusted.

He writes nearly six pages of grumbling and grousing about his idle life. He’s sick of sharing a room with 200 other guys who are equally lonely, bored, discouraged and disgusted. If he can’t be home, he longs for an assignment that would give him something to focus his mind on.

There was an inspection today. “The old buzzard walked up and down row after row of white-capped sailors, until he’d inspected, personally, the shave and haircut, the uniform and shoes, and the military bearing of each man. After that, he looked over the hovels these men live in. He was displeased. So to heck with the old man. He displeased us, too. He made us stand around in the hot sun. And he did us the dishonor of being 40 minutes late for his rounds. Such is the privilege of men who are leaders. Leaders by rank, rather than by choice of the men they lead.”

He thanks Dot for the picture of his #3 girl, Kate Hepburn) although he deems her “out of his price range.” Still, if he had even a remote chance with her, he’d pick Dot over every other girl in the world. “And I wish I could reach you now to take permanent possession. Maybe permanent joint management would be the right idea for us. Each of us has already traded a half-interest in himself for a half-interest in the other. And I like the arrangement.”

He breaks into a nice little daydream of the first time he’ll call her wearing civies. He’ll need to purchase an entire new wardrobe and hopes the $300 the Navy gives him for the purpose will cover it all. He draws a big cartoon style “POP” on the page and explains that the “pop” was his nice dream bursting.

How impressed he is by her determination to succeed at school. “You frighten me sometimes with your conscientiousness. I hope the Navy hasn’t knocked all the ambition out of me. Right now, I have no ambition for anything except to sleep and to make love with you.”

The first time Dot wrote today it was to dash off a quick note to Dart telling him to cheer up. She promises to write more from his home tonight. Now she’s off to take her big science exam. She’s studied hard, but she’s still scared.

She’ll try to write long letters while she’s visiting his folks this weekend because she has mid-term exams next week.

The second letter from Dot is written at Dart’s desk, in his bedroom in Cleveland. She’s thrilled to be occupying the space where her beloved has spent so much of his time.

She was happy to hear his voice tonight, but was too shy to tell him she loved him in front of his parents. She makes a valid point when she chides him for a comment he made about her science exam. When she told him she thinks she did okay on it, he cautioned her not to be too disappointed if she doesn’t score as high as she hopes. “First you tell me I don’t have enough confidence and then you turn right around and tell me I’m too confident!”

It’s 12:30 AM and she’s very tired from too many late nights studying, so she decides to finish this in the morning. She hopes she dreams of a tall, handsome sailor.

The next morning she fills him in on the Halloween party that he’s asked her about. After a wonderful wiener roast by the backyard grill, complete with pickles, donuts and cider, the girls went upstairs to get into their costumes. Dot dressed as a Beau Brummel-type character and the girls said she made a better looking boy than girl. They tried to convince her to cut her hair in a boy-ish style, but she promises she won’t.

All the girls plus the landlord and his sister gathered downstairs, and each room put on a little skit for the others. Her group did a corny dance routine and acted out the lyrics of “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.” There was more food, and then they all left to see what other food they might find elsewhere.

First, they all went to the Dean’s house where his wife invited all 10 girls inside for some caramels. The girls treated the couple to a song, “I go to KSU, now pity me. There’s not a man in the vicinity…” The Dean knew the words and joined in with the girls. Then he asked if anyone could play boogie woogie, and Dorie volunteered. She played piano while the Dean jitter-bugged all over the living room.

The group visited a few more houses and then Holly (their landlord) asked them if they’d like to go for a ride in his piano trailer. What fun! All 10 girls stood in the 3’x5′ open trailer and he drove them through the countryside to Ravenna, hollering and singing the whole way.

Holly and his sister go out of their way to make sure all of “their girls” had a really good time, and everyone agreed it was the best Halloween party they’d ever attended.

If she doesn’t get downstairs soon, his mother will wonder what’s keeping her. Dot really misses Dart even more at his house than elsewhere. She’s surrounded by evidence of him and wishes with all er heart that he could be there with her. Is there any chance he could get a 72-hour liberty for Thanksgiving if he hasn’t shipped out by then? He has an invitation to both Cleveland and Greenwich.

Now she’s going to take a bath in a real tub and hope she doesn’t drown!