Dart had no letter from Dot today, but then, he didn’t write to her last night, so it’s all okay. He says he feels “a bit peculiar” taking advantage of the ‘privilege’ she’s given him not to write when he has too much schoolwork.
He’s finally enclosing the train photos for Chuckie. He’s put some information on the backs, which may be too much for Chuckie, but it’ll help Dot know what to tell the little guy about the photos.
Cleveland College has a quarterly literary magazine called Skyline that publishes “prose and verse of merit by students and faculty.” Tonight, Miss Talmage asked Dart if he would agree to be her class’s “representative” on the staff of the publication. Naturally, he was delighted to have been asked, and promptly accepted. He truly didn’t think his writing stood out enough for him to have been singled out for this honor. The staff meet every Friday night. As of now, he’s not sure what his duties will be, or even the style and reach of Skyline, but he’s very excited at the prospect, and plans to learn as much as possible before the next meeting.
He’s especially happy that the staff meetings, which last only an hour, won’t interfere with either his new job or his rail club meetings. He realizes how much he has come to enjoy the company of those fine fellows in his club.
The excitement grows for his first night on the new job. He’s heard he’s in for an interesting and not-too-difficult night of it. He’s tickled to have broken so easily into the business he hopes to penetrate when he graduates.
Now he tells Dot about a guy named Earle Ramsdell who is in both of his English classes. Dart describes him as a “very interesting character, marvelously well-informed and a fellow of high ideals and wide interests.
Seemingly, he switches abruptly to a new topic, wondering if Dot, while in Cleveland, had ever heard snippets of a Saturday radio program Pop listens to. It is the weekly broadcast of the City Club luncheon speaker. He explains that the City Club is a Who’s Who of Cleveland, known for its liberality, its interest and influence on local, national and foreign affairs. It draws speakers from politics and government, science, journalism, and most other fields of human endeavor.
“The connection between these last two paragraphs is simply this: Earle Ramsdell has a student membership ($1.75 for three months) In the Cleveland City Club and he has invited me to join! You bet I will if I possibly can. Why, it’s a real privilege to belong to that club. All the prominent men of Cleveland belong. I’ve been hoping I’d get an invitation to it sometime before I was 75 or 80 and here it is already! Boy! When good things happen, they sure do pile up!”
What on other days would be a triumph in an ordinary Thursday letter is eclipsed by these two monumental events mentioned above. What else was good about his day? He got another A in prose from Miss Talmage. It was a very long description of the Golden Gate Bridge, which, when read aloud to the class, received criticism of being long and dry. (The essay, not the bridge – which is indeed long and generally dry.) Dart agrees with the class assessment, but he’ll take the A.
This morning the Peterson family roomer, Kathleen, left a note on the kitchen table saying that she had a companion in her room that was causing her to lose sleep with his playing around. Dart, Sr. set a trap for the mouse in question and caught him almost immediately. Our Dart was saddened to see the soft little body and cute round ears stuck in the trap. All the poor guy wanted was a little taste of cake, which remained in his teeny paws in death.
Now he sets about answering the two letters he got from Dot yesterday. He’s still checking with the VA, but all they can do is tell him to wait for his check to arrive.
He was so happy to read her wish that they will spend their meager date money on worthwhile things, rather than just taking in movies all the time. He’s in total agreement. “Oh, Dottie – I’m going to like being married to you!”
It’s nice that she had such a great day on Sunday. Good speakers, fine dinner, deep thoughts. He tells not Dot to be so hard on herself about not being a leader yet. She’s so young. If she keeps on caring about things and doing what she can about them, she’ll find her place in the world. He thinks he knows a little of how she feels.
Looking at next year’s school calendar, he thinks June 14th will work for him as a wedding date. He expects classes to be done by late May and he’ll need at least five days after he gets to Connecticut for the license and blood tests, etc.
Golly, how will he find time to write to Dr. Bliss? Well, he’d certainly like to write to him, so he’s sure he’ll find the time somewhere. It seems as though his calendar has suddenly become pretty tightly packed.
“I’ve been sitting here dreaming about that afternoon we went out to Uncle Guy’s. We have so many wonderful memories, Dot. I’m glad that we can enjoy things together, and that we get identical pleasures from simple things. (Remember your wiener roast and scavenger hunt?)”
“Oh, Dot, I want you forever. I’m selfish that way. Thank God for sending me you and thank you for being mine. Do you remember the first night we went real far? How we said our marriage vows as we sat on the edge of your bed? I think we’ve been married since then, Dot. If only those vows had been under the right conditions! Then we could finish our getting acquainted. We could consummate our marriage and begin living and loving together. Pretty words, Dot? Oh, I mean them with all my heart.”
# # #
Dot’s feeling very virtuous tonight because the angel on her right shoulder defeated the devil on her left and prevented her from blowing her budget, ignoring her mending pile and going to see a movie. Now her budget is in tact and her mending is done. She even finished making a skirt that she started two years ago.
She and Nancy plan to take a long hike tomorrow and then cook their lunch out in the woods. Jane can’t come because she must babysit her nephew Smokey while his parents attend the Yale football game.
She’s sure she wasn’t crying at 7:30 Tuesday morning. Maybe Dart had the premonition that she would tear up a bit when Dr. Howgate was drilling her teeth around 10:00 a.m.
How proud she is of him for his new job! Although it sounds right up his alley, perhaps he should learn to grab some sleep during the afternoon on the days he works. He may be starting out as a copy boy, but she believes he’ll have moved up a few rungs by the time he graduates.
It pains her to go to the bank early in the morning. She has to withdraw $130 as a loan to Eleanor, which will temporarily bring her bank balance down to $70. Still, El has helped her out before and it feels good to be able to return the favor now.
Even though she sits all day at her job, she still gets plenty tired. Yes, she’s stopped dreaming of flashing lights, but now, whenever she picks up a ringing phone at home she answers with “Number, please.” She thinks she may be taking her job too seriously!
She tries to find new ways to say it, but all she can think of is the old standard, “I love you.” But that love is the most beautiful thing she’s ever experienced. “You’re as much a part of my life as the air I breathe, but I most certainly don’t take you for granted.”
Gee, I think she just found a new way to say it…