Dart’s letter hints at the frugality these two kids are practicing these days. Apparently, when Dart left Kent on Sunday evening, Dot gave him a letter she’d written to him, and asked him to mail it for her on his way back to Cleveland. That way, he’d have a letter to open on Tuesday. Instead of mailing the letter, he held on to the sealed envelope until today, then carefully opened it. He has enclosed the envelope in his letter to her so that she can use it, and the stamp, again.
He hasn’t shaved since Sunday morning. He loafed around the house all day. He looks like a “fugitive from some warm place.”
He assumes he and his father will go out job-hunting tomorrow after his mother leaves for Ashtabula to tend to Aunt Flora. He says “The sun has been so hot lately that we may go down to the county courthouse. We’ve heard they have some shady deals down there.”
The old mid-week loneliness has struck me and I can’t think of much to write, so I’ll shove in all the love I can manage to impart in a letter, and send letter, envelope and love right along to you. Goodnight, Dot Darling. I love you.”
# # #
Dot was surprised to get a letter Dart had written on Sunday night, just hours after he had left Kent. “It really wasn’t necessary for you to write to me Sunday night, but I love you all the more cuz’ you did. Guess that’s why I love you so much all the time; you always do just a little bit more than is expected.It’s a trait I admire very much.”
Nobody in her house has much interest in the dance Friday night, so he surely doesn’t have to come unless he wants to. She hopes he’ll remember Janie and Phyll if and when he manages to drum up an extra man.
She begins work at the Robin Hood restaurant on Sunday, serving private parties and banquets. On the day she was offered that job, she was also offered the daily 7 to 11 shift at the local diner, but she turned that down. With such a full academic schedule, she thought that job would wear her out. Besides, she likes the upscale atmosphere of the Robin Hood much better.
How she wishes she could learn to write a decent letter. She feels hers, never great to begin with, have gone downhill since Dart’s return from the war. Even her mother has commented. Gee, could it be that she’s buried in school work and also wants to spend time with Dart and her friends? I wish she’d give herself a little slack. For now, she’s too tired to find a solution to that problem, however. Tomorrow she has 6 classes! “I don’t know where the time goes, but it sure gets there fast!”