Dart begins, “Just 24 hours ago we were in our last short embrace in the car.  I wanted you to come home with me, Dot. Thank you for the lovely evening.  I enjoy every minute of my time with you. Thank you for saying what I wanted you to, when I asked the question. I’d momentarily forgotten about it, and you brought me back down to Earth, where we both belong in cases like that. Only by effective discipline of our desires can we control those passions which we must control. (Said like a parrot, but it’s true, I guess.)”

I think we can assume he’s talking about their plan to stay on the straight and narrow path they have set for themselves. It looks as though Dot has most of the responsibility to “hold the line.”

“I know we slept last night, for a few minutes. I know it was 20 minutes after two once when I looked, and I remember next of waking up, thinking it had been many more than seven minutes. It nearly would have broken my heart if you had held onto my hand as I left.”  It seems almost miraculous that he could drive that long, lonesome road back to Cleveland in the wee hours of the morning and not fall asleep at the wheel. His guardian angel must have been on alert at all such times. Fortunately, there seem to be some all-night coffee and burger joints along the way, which Dart is happy to patronize.

He suggests that they didn’t do such a bad job of dancing, but admits his assessment might simply indicate how little he knows about dancing. (How nice they finally got the chance to dance together again. It’s been a long time coming.) He thinks they should try to work out some of their stiffness on the turns. And speaking of stiffness, he says his legs and feet are stiff today. Obviously more practice is needed in avoiding other couples on a crowded dance floor, he says.

He wants to know the score on Phyll/Al/Homer. Did Phyll tell Al she had a date with Homer?  “I want to know what’s going on around here before I have to start telling lies to cover up my movements.” Al seems to be taking lots for granted about where things stand with Phyll, but Dart hopes he meets some nice girls when he starts school so the sting might be less when she tells him the score.

He talks at length about their refusal to take Dorie and Don to some beer joint after the dance. Dart feels he gave Don fair warning when he told him that he and Dot don’t drink, and that they don’t hang out in the kind of places Dorie and Don wanted to visit. Still, the other couple acted pretty miffed when Dart refused to be their ride. He wasn’t about to give up special time with his lady, sitting around a noisy, smokey, sleazy bar, waiting for the party duo to decide they were ready for a ride home. “Aside from the experience of running from Don and Dorie, I enjoyed the whole evening. Even the running was fun, for we were together.”

After arriving back home at 4:20 AM, Dart still managed to get to church. His mother accompanied him for a change. Then he went home and slept from 1:00 until 6:00 to make up for last night’s lost hours.

“Good night, Sweetheart. …I love you to the fullest extent of my mind, my soul, and my body, in every way that’s known to us.”

#          #          #

Dot scolds herself for going three days without writing and warns Dart that next week may be even worse. Then she vows she’ll find a way to write to him, regardless of the other claims on her time.

She, too, went to church this morning, in spite of getting to bed after 3:30 AM. Then, instead of a five-hour nap, she went to work for the lunch shift during which she had no customers. “I didn’t bother going back this evening ‘cuz I didn’t want to waste any more time at work when I could stay home and waste it.”

She missed Dart so much today that she’d just about convinced herself to take the bus to Cleveland on Wednesday so she wouldn’t have to wait two weeks to see him again. But seeing him for such a short time would only make her miss  him more, so she’s decided not to torment herself.  She asks if she’d be able to spend June 8th and 9th at his home. She’d leave on the 10th to spend a few days with Aunt Marj and Uncle Paul in Erie before heading back to Greenwich. (If her parents end up not coming out to Ohio.)

“It meant a great deal to me that you came out for the dance last night. I’m so proud of you that I welcome every opportunity to show you off.”

She wonders at the phenomenon that prevents her from looking into Dart’s eyes while they dance. She really wants to, but whenever she does, her eyes get teary. It must be that she loves him so much, but she thinks that’s a strange way to show it! Echoing Dart’s comments, she believes they did fairly well on the dance floor last night, but could use a little more practice to build their confidence and get a little smoother with their moves.

She’s sorry he can’t attend the YMCA camp because she thinks he’d really enjoy it. The subject reminds her that she wishes she’d hear back from Camp Miniwanca about her internship there this summer. It strikes me as odd that she is in the final week of school, about to leave on break, and she still doesn’t have firm plans about what she’ll be doing this summer. When did the world get to be so focused on early planning. Now days, if a student doesn’t have a job or internship lined up February, they may as well just throw in the towel. Things moved slower in the 1940s, and folks seemed willing to adjust to last minute plans.

Her parents were married on August 31, so she doesn’t want to wed on their anniversary, unless it’s August 31 of this year!

Speaking  of summer plans – If she and Dart get to Sunapee this September, should they collect on that bet Dart won with Hal Martin? A weenie roast paid for by someone else sounds like loads of fun, especially if it’s at Sunapee!

“To bed now, to dream of the one I love. Which, if you’re interested, is you.”