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.