Dart went shopping for trousers today. They’re getting easier to find, but no easier to pay for.

They had their usual good time at the Skyline meeting tonight. As he was riding the streetcar home, he happened to pull out some photos that Burke took of his little engine.  When he showed them to John Downing, fellow Skyline staffer and Ohio Bell worker, John was surprised to learn that Dart was a model railroader. It turns out that John has his own layout at home, so he rode out to Dart’s place to look at his set-up. “What a surprise! We’ve been going to these meetings for weeks and here we find we have more than one or two common interests.” As life turned out, they had several; jazz, photography, and a similar sense of humor. John and his wife, Shirley became my parents best friends until John’s untimely death at the age of 49. The Peterson “kids” are friends with the Downing offspring even today.

Dart included a drawing of the window treatment he’d written about in an earlier letter – One with a valance that extended the full width of a window wall and hid the rods containing the floor-to-ceiling drapes that covered the entire wall.

So, she says she likes camelhair sport coats, especially on “tall, dark handsome men like the one I’m going to marry.” Dart asks her who exactly that is, because he’d certainly hoped he was in the running for the guy she’d marry, yet he doesn’t fit that description. “Tall? Maybe, but will that be enough? Dark? Sure, when the lights are out or when soiled. But handsome? Only in my wildest dreams.” I can just hear my mother telling him to stop fishing for compliments.

#          #          #

Dot’s a little nervous because she hasn’t heard from Dart in a couple of days. She hopes that means he’s busy and not sick again, but she won’t know until Monday because Greenwich has stopped Saturday mail delivery. “Pretty soon, they won’t bother unrolling the sidewalks in the morning around here. The town is already developing the faint smell of a morgue.”

Tonight she babysat for the McDonald family, for whom she worked quite a while ago. They have three kids named Charlie, Ruth and the baby, Beth. Mrs. McDonald isn’t much of a housekeeper, always leaving a pile of unrinsed dishes in a greasy sink, which she expects Dot to clean up. She’s only agreed to work for them because she’s desperate for money.

Someone named Peggy Ann has come down with the measles and her folks will be out of town all day Saturday. Dot will go over and feed her meals. She’s also decided to take her radio over for Peggy Ann because it’s no fun to lie in a dark room all day with nothing to help pass the time.

Miss Dilla of the YWCA called Dot this morning to see if she would work at a Sunday afternoon social the Y is trying out. She’d like Dot to mingle with the kids and find out what kind of activities and entertainment they’d like to see at these functions.

Because of the cold, damp weather, Dot was sent home from work early today and told not to come back until Monday. She used the extra time to paint the front bathroom a new, fresh green. Today, her father contracted with professional painters to do the outside of the house before the wedding. Dot’s happy that the house will have a clean face for the occasion.

This tired babysitter needs her sleep. She hopes Dart isn’t sick, but if he is, she’s sending him wishes for a speedy recovery.