Dart’s letter continues with his theme of discouragement. Case University firmly and flatly turned him down. After a long phone conversation with the dean, Dart learned that he was below the average Case man on “quantitative aptitude” (mathematics) and far above the average Case man on “analytical aptitude” (words and drawings), and on general intellect. Because Case is a technical school, the balance tips to the quantitative side. That, plus his two failures in physics and calculus have barred him for life from Case. Now he must start applying to any and all colleges in hopes of being accepted somewhere. (It is notable that the English department at Case had high praise for Dart’s abilities.)
In response to Dot’s recent letter, he notes that she began it with a sentence nearly identical to his; the idea of it feeling strange to be writing again, instead of talking. He’s happy her big bed is so comfy. Does she think they could make a deal with Holly and Miss Olin to buy it? He hopes she’ll get a favorable response from the Robin Hood restaurant, but he also hopes working there will not curtail her visits to Cleveland. He believes that if she’d seen him in college, she would have deemed him a “dizzy drip” too and he would never have had a date with her.
Now comes his big confession: He is not trying to learn to dance. He can’t learn anything from his pal Homer, who dances as badly as Dart does. He’ll try to get to Kent early on Saturday so they can practice a few steps together before the actual dance starts.
He reports that after spending a couple of hours shining the car, he cracked the whip over his folks and urged them to take a long drive with him. They roamed over to Chagrin Falls and stopped in to visit his cousin Jessie, her husband Gil and their three little daughters. Dart obviously has a soft spot in his heart for those little girls, all of whom were excited to have company so close to bed time.
He closes with a note of longing, saying he hopes they can have other evenings as wonderful as last Monday before she returns to Greenwich for the summer. These two are getting lots of practice at a long-distance relationship, but I know they both want this phase to be permanently behind them.
# # #
Dot also commented on the similar openings of their recent letters, saying “What they say about great minds running in the same channels must be true.”
She hopes his recent $100 deposit stays in his account longer than the last one did. She can’t imagine how it could disappear any quicker. (Is that a gentle hint that perhaps he’s spending too much money?) Also, she’s glad the Singers got another dog so quickly. The new puppy sounds delightful, and reminds Dot of a little black spaniel her family had when she was younger. His name was Jet, and although he was killed shortly after they got him, she’ll never forget that cute little rascal.
Not knowing his bad news about school admissions, she frets a bit about the short time between when she goes home for the summer and he would start classes. “You’ve just got to come to Sunapee!”
She’s kicking herself for catching another cold and promises to be better in time for the big dance. She had a late idea that she hopes he’ll be able to help with. Would it be possible for him to bring one of his pals as a date for Joyce? She and Bill have broken up (!) and Joyce is a great dancer who needs to get her mind off Bill. If Dart’s able to pull off a date, it would be good if he’d call on Saturday morning so Joyce can get ready for it. It would also be nice if Dart had some company for the long drive back to Cleveland after the dance.
She bids him goodnight and sends all her love, forever.