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.