In spite of being sick in bed with some intestinal bug, Dart manages to write a newsy six-page letter to Dot. He begins with an apology for neglecting her so badly this past week.
Friday night was his Skyline meeting, and he was the last of a large bunch of guys to be dropped off at home. He got in around 1:00 AM and felt so poorly that he couldn’t write any letters. He woke up feeling even worse, but he had important errands to run, so he forced himself out of bed.
After making deposits into both the regular savings account and the penny account, the balances are now $207.89 and $56.50, respectively. He also paid all his bills downtown and had the typewriter cleaned and adjusted before going back home to bed.
In spite of feeling so sick, he went to work Saturday night and did the jobs of three men. This, after Dr. Singer told him to stay in bed! (I guess his father’s stubbornness may have made its way into the next generation.)
After communion at church yesterday, Dart helped with the Deacon’s offering before heading home. In the afternoon, Uncle Tom drove him and his mother out to Crile Hospital to visit Pop. “He still looks very sick, especially in the eyes. In fact, he is very sick. They’re still making all sorts of tests and examinations, and he wishes they’d begin to do something for him that makes him feel better.”
The doctors have told Pop that they may have to “go in there” to see what’s causing his pleurisy , and rupture of his lung. Dart, Sr. is very nervous about surgery which is causing him to lose lots of sleep. Guy Sharp went out to see Pop today and had some positive news for Helen and Dart. (Guy Sharp is the son of Dart, Senior’s brother Guy. I believe Sharp is his middle name, and it’s used to distinguish him from his father. He is, I believe, either a doctor or a medical student in 1947.) Both he and Dr. Singer agree that the two specialists that are set to examine Pop next week and the best “chest and lung men” in Cleveland. Dart and his mother are relieved that Pop’s getting the best care possible at Crile.
Helen was glad to hear a lighter note in her husband’s voice when he called tonight from the hospital. Dart had hoped to go back out there tomorrow for a visit, but Dr. Singer has nixed that plan.
His mother says to thank Dot for the sweet telegram she sent. Her thoughtfulness is one of the things he loves most about his bride-to-be. He was sorry to learn in her letter today that Cynthia will be unable to attend their wedding or be a bridesmaid. She is graduating from Oberlin in June and her folks are taking her on a big cross-country trip. Dot’s very disappointed that one of her favorite friends is unable to be her attendant and she wonders why she and Dart didn’t just go to the Justice of the Peace to tie the knot. He tells her that he has wondered the same thing on occasion, but he knows neither of them would have felt married if the ceremony were not conducted by a minister. His question is why didn’t they just ask Mr. Kershner to do the honors last summer when Dot was in Cleveland.
He comments that the new coat she describes sounds quite nice and he hopes she won’t be embarrassed by his shabby clothes if he’s unable to purchase new ones before the wedding. Because she hasn’t mentioned anything about it, he assumes that her operation didn’t do anything to set her “clock” right. (Referring, I believe to her irregular periods.) I’m not sure why anyone would have assumed that an appendectomy would in any way alter the functioning of the reproductive system, but maybe medicine has come a long way in understanding the basics of human anatomy since 1947!
He wishes her good night and apologizes for his neglect of late.