Burke came home yesterday, looking terrible at his new weight of 148 pounds. “You’d miss him if you looked for him and didn’t know where he was standing.”  His homecoming was celebrated with a big family dinner that included his girlfriend Edie.

Today Dart drove Burke around town. They visited Burke’s best friend, Stan Downs at a theater. Dart learned that Burke has a few dates lined up with girls other than Edie because Edie has some dates of her own. “Oh Darling, how much nicer the world would be if all couples could be as passionately in love as we are!”

Dart’s grades were a mixed bag. He’s entirely satisfied with his A in psychology, but disappointed with the C in political science. His goal now is to raise that C while maintaining the A.

Although he’s feeling lousy tonight, with a sore throat and general malaise, he’ll try to answer one letter, leaving him with four more to get to when he can.

“Maybe it’s a bit of wishful thinking on my part, but from your 26 July letter I’m inclined to think that you more or less approve of ‘playing with fire’ (for us), as long as we can know when to put it out, and how. That suits me. Yes, we do know what leads up to it, and  I think we can recognize the fact in time.”

He agrees that their visit to the doctor and the minister should be about a week before they’re married. He regrets they don’t live closer to each other so scheduling such a meeting would be easier. It’s settled then: They will do a little reading on the subject during their honeymoon while leaving plenty of time for practicing what they’ve read.

Horror of horrors! He gives Dot permission to burn some of his letters, asking only that she save some of his descriptive ones and the ones they are both sentimental about. He says he will do the same. Thank heaven they both decided against such a drastic step!

#          #          #

Dot missed her chance to write last night when Gib wanted company. She sat with him for about two hours and talked about…Dart.

In addition to taking care of the Pecsok family today, Dot also set aside an hour to do Mrs. Miller’s hair. Both Billy and Linda Pecsok were “good as gold” while she tended to Mrs. Miller. How Dot wants Dart to meet this family! Billy looks like a baby food model and he never cries. Linda is sweet and very helpful, even though she’s only two years old. Dot knows she’s going to miss this family when she moves back into her house.

“Gib and I have been discussing child discipline and it’s my opinion he has it all over the Millers. He’s never spanked the children, but they are the most obedient children she’s ever known (And I’ve seen a few in my day.) They know when he’s kidding and when he means business, and act accordingly. ”

She’s surprised that Fred is engaged. She thought he wasn’t ready to settle down for a long time. Anyway, she wishes them both the best of luck.

She missed the Northern Lights that he saw last week, but she’s had the pleasure of seeing them several times at Lake Sunapee. They’re beautiful and uncanny.

It sounds as though they are having so much company that maybe she shouldn’t plan on coming out in September. She’s never fancied the bathtub as a bed. She could always try and bum a bed at the home of one of her Andrews School friends, but that wouldn’t be much fun.

She’s glad he likes the sound of her laughter. The kids at the playground tease her about it, saying it sounds like water bubbling over. That sounds like a compliment to me.

It sometimes feels as though it were she who got such great results on those aptitude test. She’s so proud of him, but not at all surprised. She’s always believed he had more going for him than he let himself or others see. “I’ve always known you were extra special.”

It seems to her that she might remember Nancy Sutter from Andrews. Is she blond and did she sing in the glee club?

She fears he was right about her selection as the breakfast cook the other day. It certainly was more her schedule than her cooking abilities that won her that assignment. She has been doing all the cooking at the Pecsok home this week has surprised herself a little at how well she’s managed to do.

If she took the amount of pay that Gib wants to give her, she’d make $78 dollars this week (including her regular job.) He thinks $8.00 a day is fair because he would have had to hire a nurse, a babysitter and someone to clean if she hadn’t been available. She says there’s no way she will accept that much pay, but it’s nice to think someone thinks she’s worth that.

The letter she got from Dart today needs special attention, so she’ll wait until tomorrow to answer it. Does he realize it’s only 36 days until he’s here in Greenwich?

With only 34 days until they see each other, Dart is beginning to stew a little about registration for fall classes. In his heart, his highest priority is to have the longest vacation possible with Dot. But his head is reminding him that he must get signed up for appropriate classes, even if it means cutting his vacation short by a couple of days. It would be terrible if he had a spot reserved for him at Cleveland College, but missed out on a spot in his necessary classes.

He and Tom Reilly went to a movie at the 105th street cinema tonight, and then took a long walk home when it was over. Tom is a good influence on Dart because he’s always reluctant to part with a penny. Dart would love to learn  how to be that frugal. Anyway, they saw a British thriller with an obvious and jerky plot, atrocious sound quality, mediocre acting and the homeliest heroine Dart had ever seen. Even so, Dart enjoyed the film, in spite of it being a war movie.

He made great progress on his train layout today and announces that the whole thing is really starting to come together.

He’s trying not to get his hopes  up to high that Dot may be able to come to Cleveland with him after vacation, but it’s about all he can think about while he’s alone. When he wishes her good night, he asks that she not work so hard that she can’t enjoy her vacation when it comes.

#          #          #

Dot begins her letter with shocking news. Her father’s car was stolen! If it isn’t recovered, they will have to take the train to Sunapee, which is less than ideal. Her dad really depends on that car for his business. Why couldn’t the thief have taken Pegasus instead?

She’s babysitting for the Miller boys tonight, with El filling in for her at the Pecsok’s. As soon as Mr. and Mrs. Miller return, she’ll head back to the Pecsok house.  Although Gib is feeling better and moving around some, Dot will be staying there until Mrs. Pecsok gets home on Tuesday. Dot has big plans for getting the house sparkling clean and the ironing caught up so that Mrs. P. won’t regret having taken a little vacation.

She finishes the letter early Sunday morning so she can mail it on her way to church. Still no sign of her father’s car.

Dart begins, “A year ago tomorrow, the tired old Haggard steamed her last miles at sea, and came home to rest. Gee, we’ve come a long way since then. … A year’s progress has shown itself in countless ways. Best of all have been the end of the war and the enabling of young people to proceed with their plans for security and happiness; the end, for a while at least, of the heartless, purposeless massacre of the young men of nations.”

The family is alarmed by Burke’s thinness. His face is V-shaped and pinched and he weighs less than Dart for the first time since they were young boys. Still, he seems to be his old self, already hanging out with his old group of “musicians and Bohemians.”

Dart feels the need to make excuses for not going to church this morning. He just doesn’t like the Presbyterian minister who is filling in for Mr. Kershner. He knows that’s not a valid excuse, but it’s the only one he has.

He’s noticed his study habits are becoming a little stronger. It remains to be seen if that will show in his grades, but he’s hopeful. Perhaps he was inspired by the dedication in the front of his psych book: To Dorothy

Last night when he came downstairs to meet Tom, his buddy greeted him with “Hello, Chubby.” His appraisal was borne out today when Dart split a seam in the blue trousers he bought right after he got out of the Navy. He hopes it’s the kind of rip that can be easily repaired. “Chubby” might be a bit of an exaggeration: at six feet tall, Dart still doesn’t weigh 170 pounds!

Although he still has two of her letters to answer, he must get to bed. He saw a wedding picture in the Plain Dealer today of the first girl he dated. She’s now Mrs. Bert Nolan. How he wishes Dot were Mrs. Dart Peterson already!

#          #          #

Well, it must be kismet; Dot didn’t make it to church today either. As she was leaving the Pecsok house to pick up her mother, she scraped the car on the garage door frame and pulled the door nearly off. She was so upset that all she could do was shake and cry. Her father came over to take a look and discovered that the car didn’t have a scratch on it. He’ll send someone over this morning to repair the door.

As Dot was weeping inconsolably, Gib put his arm around her to try and comfort her, but all she could think was “Why isn’t he Dart?’ and she cried even harder.

Speaking of cars, her father’s car was returned this morning to the exact place it had been parked when it went missing. That’s a  huge relief, because Arthur Chamberlain did not have theft insurance on the thing.

She thinks they’d better both be very careful at Sunapee. He writes so often about how he doesn’t trust himself, and she’s not all that sure about herself. Naturally, they’ll see each other in bathing suits, because that’s all they wear at the lake, but maybe they’ll “get used to seeing each other that way.” (Nice theory, Dot.)

Finally, she writes that Gib came in to wake her up again this morning because she overslept. Then he lingered in the room for an hour while he and Dot talked and he played with Linda. Dot says he teases her about being fat and she teases him about his gray hair. He insists it’s black and she responded that it’s true – one of them is, but the others are gray. He also said it was a shame bigamy was illegal. Hmm – Dot seems to think he’s harmless because he’s happily married and he’s 36 years old! I think she’s a little naive and it’s a good thing Mrs. Pecsok comes home tomorrow! I’m guessing Dart will agree.

Dart’s bruised back is tired and he has a cold, so even though he got two swell letters from Dot today, he will keep this one very short and get to bed.

“One letter carried an answer to my passionate and personal one of last week. As I read your reply, I felt closer to you than I’ve felt since our very last day together before you went home.”

“I love you somepin’ fierce, Dot.”

#          #          #

As Dot kissed the kids goodnight, she felt a huge lump in her throat. She’s going to miss them terribly when she goes home.

She can’t picture Burke being skinnier than Dart, but she bets that he’ll put back every ounce in short order, especially with his mother’s great cooking. She hadn’t know that he and Edie were dating other people. Well, she guesses that’s for the best, if they can’t be as happy together as she and Dart are. Even though it’s been hard for them to be so young and so much in love, she thinks they’re both happier than either of them would be if they were still “looking around.”

She doesn’t think she has the heart to burn his letters, after all. Although there have been one of two recent ones that really must go, just for safety’s sake.

It sounds as though his friend Tom would be a good influence on Dart. “You wouldn’t know me as I am now. I pinch the pennies so hard now, tears run down Lincoln’s face. Ah! but the results are beginning to show! With Gib’s check today, she has $130 in her bank account. (How striking that she and Dart have the exact total bank balance!)

He can put his fears to rest. She’ll never be too tired to enjoy a vacation with as charming and wonderful a guy as he!

She marvels at the coincidence that neither of them made it to church on Sunday. She had a feeling he missed it, too, even before she got his letter confirming it.

In Dart’s recent letter when he wrote about splitting his pants, he joked with her about her idea that she would lose one pound for every one that he gained. While he assured her that he didn’t care a hoot about her weight, he asked her how that deal was working out. She responds, “Lessee. What did happen to that deal about me  losing a pound? Must look into that (sometime). Well, darn it, I like to eat! And I love you!”

Dart has been unable to find the English department open whenever he’s stopped by, so he’s made no progress toward settling his fall schedule. While in psychology class today, he asked Nancy Sutter if she had sung in the Andrews glee club, and she confirmed that she had. “In the course of this class on the psychology of personality, the topic of sex comes up quite frequently. I noticed today that she was embarrassed very much. Almost, in fact, as much as I was.”

He writes that the class this term is far smaller than the one last term. Consequently, it is far less formal and tends more toward lively and open discussions than to lectures. For the most part, he seems to enjoy that.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses are convening in Cleveland this week and have nearly taken over all public space. Pairs of them are also placed every 35 feet downtown, trying to widely distribute copies of their publication “The Watchtower” to passers-by. Dart was “accosted” by a pair today, saying “Read the Truth and be Happy.” Dart replied that he was very happy and that he’d never found the truth, to which one of the JW replied, “You can’t be happy until you read the truth!” His psychology class has been discussing a common statement to be used on these folks, but have been unable to find a solution.

Just think! in about 31 days, he’ll be with her and on their way to Sunapee. He must get a letter off to Hal Martin to see if he’ll be able to stop by the Chamberlain camp while he and Dot are there. Speaking of the trip, Dart has been thinking of taking the bus instead of the train to Greenwich. It would cost time, but save money.

How he hopes  he can learn to be the kind of father Mr. Pecsok is. Dart fears that Dot is partly responsible for spoiling the Miller children.

Yes, it is strange about Fred. Dart doubts the marriage will last, but Fred is a determined cuss, and Bettie has put up with him this long, so maybe it’ll all work out.

Foremost on Dart’s mind tonight – other than how much he misses Dottie, is who will do the cooking at Sunapee. I notice he didn’t volunteer!

#          #          #

Listening to David Rose on the radio playing “If I Loved You” has put Dot into a romantic mood. She can think of nothing to write about except how lonely she is for Dart – even to the point of being jealous of every affectionate gesture she witnesses between Gordon and Betty or her parents. She can’t believe it hasn’t even been two months since she waved good-bye to him of the train platform, but  it seems like an eternity. How will she stand the 8 or 9 months that she’ll go without seeing him after their Sunapee vacation?

“Ever since I met you and fell in love with you, I’ve been waiting for the future, our future together, that is taking so long to get here. Why do I love you so much? No matter why I do, I wouldn’t have it any other way, Dearest, but sometimes it hurts an awful lot. I never dreamed love could be such a combination of joy and heartache.”

“Tomorrow’s another day and I must rise early and go to work at the Miller’s. I’m glad my time is so filled, but I am living and working for the day when it will be filled with nothing but making a home for you.”

She’s sure there’s more news to write, but all she wants to do is think about him. With that, she fears she’ll burst into tears if she doesn’t stop thinking about him. Before she gets the paper soggy, she begs him to let his parents know that she’ll get on the ball in the next day or two and write them a nice letter.

There’s been no letter from Dot in two days and Dart’s beginning to worry that she’s been working too hard. “Now, just for all my worries, I’ll probably get a letter from you tomorrow telling of what a wonderful time you had at the movies, or some such thing.”

Dart has finally arranged a schedule for fall term, and it’s a “real killer.”  He’ll be taking Prose Workshop, Journalism, Industrial Management, Spanish, American Literature, and Photography. On Thursday, his classes run almost continuously from 10:15 until 4:15, with another one thrown in from 8:00 until 9:45 PM. With no classes on Friday and only one afternoon class on Monday, every week will give him a 3-1/2 day weekend. “Now, if I am real industrious, maybe I can have a Hi-Y club on Monday or Wednesday.”

He explains that the GI Bill gives him $500 per academic year for tuition, fees and books. This semester’s tuition comes to $225, leaving him just $25 for books, and perhaps a camera. He guesses he won’t be buying any fancy “press” camera, which can cost as much as $25 on its own.

He assures Dot that she’s not the only one who bangs garages. Burke did the same to the family garage this week. The building was fine, but the car took a hit. Did the accident put her off driving? He doubts it did, but he wishes he’d been there to console her, instead of Gib.

“Tonight I feel restless, listless, or anxious over something. I surely hope you’re alright, Dot. You seem to be connected to my anxiety some way. You aren’t ill or indisposed, are you?”

Deeming himself in no fit state to write a decent letter tonight, he decides to answer two short ones he has from her, dated August 3 and 4. The big news of the first was the theft of Arthur’s car, but that is relieved by news the next day that it have been returned.

It sounds to him as though she’s doing the work of two people when she works for folks like the Pecsoks and the Millers. As much as she accomplishes around there, he thinks $8 a day doesn’t sound like too much.

At this moment, Dart feels pretty secure in their ability to behave themselves on the September vacation. As long as they keep in their minds the idea of the crisis they would create were they to break their promise, he’s confident they can control themselves.

In answer to Dot’s question as to whether his mother would be shocked to know that Gib awoke her one morning while still in his pajamas, and then proceeded to hang out in her room chatting, while he played with his young daughter, Dart responds, “Yes, Mom’d be shocked and so am I. He wouldn’t put anything over on you, would he? See, I told you I was prone to be extremely jealous.”

#          #          #

It’s been a slow day at Dot’s playground today. For a little while, there was only one kid named Freddy, but he got tired of losing to her in their games of checkers so he went home.

“We had out first accident (and I hope it’s our last) at the playground on Tuesday.  A five-year old fell off a swing and broke his arm. He was singing and making gestures with his arms and lost his balance. It wasn’t a bad break, but it did spoil our record. I’ve done all I could to show interest and sympathy to Frankie but his mother, I’m afraid, will hold it against me for life. She can’t seem to understand why I have to spend a little of my time watching some of the other (30-odd) children.”

She bets he looks like a professor in his new glasses. If she remembers correctly, glasses make him look rather distinguished.

How glad she is there was no serious damage when he took such a painful fall from the deck chair the other day! Still, maybe there’s some truth to his “Chubby” nickname.

This letter was interrupted when another checkers enthusiast came to challenge Dot. She guesses his ego was bruised a bit when she beat him, because he ended up leaving, too. “Ain’t it sumpin’? Sit here under a shady tree all day and do nothing but play checkers, jacks, horseshoes, and gab, gab, gab.”

Four weeks from tomorrow he’ll be on his way to see her! She hopes he’s been keeping in touch with Hal Martin and has reminded him of that wiener roast! And speaking of vacation, El has found a friend to accompany her as chaperone – her childhood friend Nancy Bristol – who has a vacation from her nursing job that week in September.  Dot asks if  having two chaperones will cramp Dart’s style.

Tonight she got a jarring ride home from the playground in a 1930 Ford. There were four old-timers playing horseshoes when the park closed, so they offered to give her a lift. It was bumpy but loads of fun.

She’s enclosing a snapshot of her place of business – the Cos Cob playground. The bench behind the fence is where she spends most of her day. The nearest headstone is in memory of Chief Cossa Cobba, for whom Cos Cob was named.

She loves him every minute, even when she’s sleeping – which is what she must do now.

No letters tomorrow, so I’ll return on the 10th. See you then.

Dart gives a weather report of today’s events – sun, wind, rain, cold -and announces that autumn has come early to Ohio this year.

Like Dot, he also neglected to write yesterday. Today he drove Burke downtown to do some shopping while Dart picked up his “specs.” He’s afraid there may be something wrong with them because his eyes ache right now. Perhaps he just needs to give them more time. He hopes they help to eliminate the headaches.

After supper last night, he, Homer and two guys from Homer’s class went to see a spy-thriller called “O.S.S.” Dart liked it, but now wishes he’d spent his money on something more permanent.

Today he did a lot of track laying and his elbow is tender from having to drive all the tiny spikes in with his pliers. He did lots of cosmetic work on his interurban cars and thinks they look really nice. He’s especially proud of the cow-catcher he made for one of them, doing all the soldering himself.

Tomorrow the family is invited over to the Burke’s house for supper – a kind of welcome home celebration for Burke. Dot should see the poor family car now! His brother had left paint from the right side hanging on the garage last week. Then today, when Pop was returning from visiting Uncle Guy in the hospital, some “goober” pulled out in front of him and rammed into the left side of the car. Half the left side of the car is in the street at Ninth and Carnegie, and the rest of the side is bashed, bent and bruised. Dart rues the day and a half he spent last week, washing, waxing and polishing the thing.

He asks Dot to let him know when she starts the process of burning the letters because he doesn’t want to start before her. He assures her that Burke doesn’t look quite so emaciated now, but still mighty skinny. He congratulates her on her big earnings last week and the size of her savings account.

He won’t answer her very homesick letter that she wrote on Aug. 7, but he wonders if that was the night he was feeling so much anxiety about her. (Wouldn’t surprise me at all.)

“Good night, Darling. I’m glad we waited for each other. I love you very much, dear. I wish we were together tonight. I’m so lonesome for YOU!”

#          #          #

Dot didn’t write last night because she treated El to a night at the movies and they didn’t get home until after 1:00. She was too tired to write, and tonight she’s in the same boat.

She hated spending the money for two tickets to the movies, but El has been working until 11:00 every night and Dot felt she needed a night out. They saw “Night and Day,” which was a bit of a disappointment to Dot, even though it was in Technicolor and had beautiful music.

She sat for the Millers tonight and reports that Eric and Chris were pretty well behaved. If she’s guilty of spoiling them, it’s because she doesn’t switch them as often as Mrs. Miller would have her do.  “Their lives seem to be a string of threats and bribes. I’m not in favor of either, but I s’pose with someone else’s kids I shouldn’t let personal feelings enter my thoughts.”

She’s too sleepy to continue, except to say she loves him forever.

Dot, Darling, it’s very late, so in order to get my sleeping done I should stop right now and begin the sleeping. I didn’t go to church today, so your letter didn’t get mailed. In fact, I don’t know what happened to the 24 hours which were supposed to compose this day. My homework isn’t even done as thoroughly as I’d like to have it done.

Gee, I miss you, dear. The moon was real lonely, but friendly, as I drove the folks home from the Burke’s tonight. You’re in for some short letters for a while, this being the first one. Even if I don’t write books to you, I love you more than all the words can describe.

That’s all for Dart today.

#          #          #

Dot describes the happy scene she discovered when she got home from babysitting at the Miller’s last night:  El’s friend Nancy Bristol and her entire family were having dinner at the Chamberlain home. When Dot arrived, they were in a lively discussion about everything El had planned for the upcoming Sunapee vacation.

This image reminded me how often the Chamberlains seem to host dinners at their house, and how often they are invited to other people’s homes for dinner. It made me wonder if this was peculiar to the gregarious Chamberlain clan, typical of small town New England, or was the phenomenon attributable to something else? Was it common practice among American families to share meals with friends prior to the advent of television? It makes me a little envious to imagine that was the case. How nice it would be to engage in such robust social interaction with friends and neighbors. I wonder how hard it would be to ignite that custom in today’s culture.

But back to the discussion. Dot warns Dart that he better pack his hiking boots, because there are plans afoot for plenty of hiking. Also, they hope to take the cog railway up the side of Mt. Washington. (Perhaps Dart saw the photo of that railway in a recent “Life” magazine?) To hear El go on, Dot fears they may need a vacation after their vacation, but the whole conversation has Dot so excited she doubts she’ll sleep much tonight.

She encourages him to take a train instead of a bus. The latter would get him to Greenwich late on Sunday, with another 6-hour drive until they’d get to Sunapee. The cost savings of the bus is not worth the time they’d miss at the lake.

Then she suggests that he buy a round-trip train ticket so that she’ll have his company when she takes the train back to Cleveland! “Sh-h-h. Don’t tell anybody yet. Do you think your Mom and Dad would prefer to know that I’m coming, or shall we surprise them? I know the shock would be terrific, though. Do as you think best. At any rate, I’m almost positive I can come. I’ve figured out my budget and I’ll have enough money to make the trip without withdrawing any of my $200 savings account.”

She tells him about a visit to Todd’s Mansion – it’s a huge house on Long Island Sound in Greenwich which had been converted into a number of apartments to ease the post-war housing shortage. It, coincidentally, was also featured in a recent “Life” magazine issue. Anyway, a couple of Dot’s cousins live in the mansion with their husbands. Dot and her parents were invited over to see some color slides of Sunapee which the cousins had taken on a recent vacation there. Color photography was still enough of a novelty in 1946 that the Chamberlains were awed by the beauty depicted on the slides. Arthur was so overcome that he nearly cried as he watched the slide show. It moved him enough that he decided to close his shop for a week and accompany Ruth, Doug, Harriet, and Gale when they go up on Friday for a two-week stay. Dot reports that her father said, “That place is truly heaven on earth. When God finished it He threw away the trowel.”

Says Dot, “I hope we can visit Todd’s Mansion when you’re here. The moon was almost full tonight, and its reflection in the water, which almost completely surrounds the place, was an awesome sight. The bay window in Betty, David, Marian and Thiel’s shared living room is over 84 inches wide.” Betty and Marian are Dot’s cousins, older sisters to Janie. These two sisters both married the boy next door – Ficker brothers David and Thiel.

She writes how glad she’ll be when they can see all these things together.