Dart begins by asking Dot if she remembers him telling her about writing to a buddy named Jack Carty, and then afterward feeling like he shouldn’t have done it lest he’d been killed during the war. Well, he’s happy to let her know that he got a letter from Jack Carty who is alive and thriving. The letter is full of coincidences and happy news. First, Jack was aboard one of the destroyers that escorted the “haggard Haggard” to a safe dry dock after she was hit by the kamikaze on April 29. He was in all the same actions that Dart was in and left the Philippines for home the day after Dart did. On his 21-day leave, he married the girl he’d been engaged to for a few years. He was discharged from the Navy the day the John R Craig left for Panama. The best part is that in May of this year, his wife presented him with a baby boy. Jack is working for the telephone company and is elated with the way his life is going. Dart writes, “If anyone objects, let’s tell ’em that Jack and his wife are our ages!”
He’s awaiting grades on his poli sci and the psych tests with fear and trembling. He drew a blank on a 10 point question on the poli sci test and the psych test was a doozy – four pages of T/F questions. His typing is not improving. So far, he hasn’t had a single passing grade in that class, so he’ll decide whether or not to drop it after the test on Wednesday.
“Tonight sure has it’s quota of noisy drunks outside. Another of my beefs against the world. (Too many people don’t act the way I want ’em to!)”
He’s eager to hear how her job as a companion worked out on Sunday. It’s surely not a job he’d ever want.
Does Dot recall the trolley wire he had on his work bench when she was there last. (I’m sure she lies awake at night thinking about it.) “I now have about 11 feet of it strung over the track, and all of it works nicely. Makes the big yellow car look more realistic, as it swings around the sharp curve, pounces across the switch with a big racket, and pulls its little trolley along the wire behind itself. I hope to have a workable loop of both the interurban and the narrow gauge ready for operation when the model club has its August meeting.” He goes on for another paragraph about wiring the switchboard for his tracks. Just the kind of sweet nothings Dot pines for, no doubt.
He hopes they get to drive through Hinsdale on the way to Sunapee. “Golly, I want that trip so much that it seems almost as fabulous and unbelievable as our approaching wedding. That wedding can’t come too soon, either. I suffer when you’re away, Dot. I want companionship and your friendliness, and all the memories we share. I want those memories to become real again, every one of them.”
# # #
Dot begins, “Your hot letter arrived this morning. In spite of the fact that it took three days to get here it was still plenty warm. That kind of letter comes just often enough to satisfy me and seldom enough so that I always look forward to the next one. Thanks, Darling, for wanting me as much as I want you.”
How she wishes she could have been at that July 4th party! Those kids are so adorable and she would have liked to see Marg again. Of course, there’s one other party she would have been most happy to spend the day with…
This morning she deposited $20 inter her savings account. It’s been looking anemic lately, but she’s trying to nourish it. The most she’s ever had in there is $130 but her goal now is $200 by the end of August.
This morning also brought a letter from Mrs. Donald M. Johnson. The name meant nothing to her, but the handwriting did; it was her old Kent housemate Ellie Durr! She and Don are living in a three-room apartment in Windham, Ohio and they both plan to continue school in the fall. ” I ask myself ‘What’s wrong with us?’ Here we are, worried sick about how we’re going to manage when we’re really a year ahead of most married couples ‘cuz we’re waiting ’til we build some capital. ”
Now she’s starting to think she should have stayed in Ohio and found a job there. With the current plan of getting a job in Greenwich this fall, she’ll just be getting a good start on it and it’ll be time to move back to Ohio after the wedding. If she’d started a job in Cleveland this summer, she’d be a veteran there by next June, perhaps due for a raise.
If all goes well in September, she may be able to fulfill Dart’s fantasy of waking him up while they’re both still wearing pajamas and her hair is uncombed. Although Gordon and Betty will be returning to the Chamberlain house next week, they hope to have their own apartment by September, meaning Dart will be sleeping on the third floor, across the hall from Dot. “But if they can’t get the apartment, you’ll have to sleep on the second floor in the little room above the stairs. It might not be as easy for me to wake you up the way I’m planning to if you’re downstairs. In any case, you’re coming in September!!! And we’ve got to leave what’s left of the cake alone! Remember, we promised.”