What a joyful letter from Dart as he answers two letters from Dot.  He metions something about one of the letters that arrived today looking like it had barely escaped a firey death. Then he asked if any of his letters look as though they’ve been put through a serilizer. I’m curious about that exchange. Is he just being silly, or is it possible that the hospital really does “clean” letters going into or out of a contagious disease ward? When I think of some of the medical practices that were common in Dart’s environs, I wouldn’t be surprised about much.

He confirmed their joint membership in the mutual admiration society and complimented her on getting better at writing the pretty stuff. Still, he says he knows they can both keep the mushy words in perspective – nice to read, but not as important as other things they have to say to each other.

Having read that horse back riding is pricey in Greenwich, he asked how much two very-much-in-love kids might have to pay to rent a tandem bike. He’s obviously giving a lot of thought to a future visit to Greenwich.

He says that, like Dot, everyone asks him how he can write such interesting letters. The only answer he can come up with is that those who ask the question just happen to care a lot about the lug who writes them. Although I put myself in that same category, I disagree with his assessment. His letters are interesting because they use language well, contain interesting observations on a variety of topics, offer a healthy dose of clever humor and are written from the heart.

He was surprised and impressed by Dot’s suggestion that a full moon and dreamy music act like TNT in charging her romantic side. He recalls a couple of nice evenings they’ve shared where there was no full moon, “but whether the music was there or not, I know I heard it when I looked at you.” Such a sweet-talker, this boy!

He’s still confined to bed with an ice bag. He’s eager to be able to move around like a normal person. On the subject of “almost not meeting each other,” he agrees that many things had to conspire in order for that event to occur. He speculates, however that had they not met on the fateful blind date, they would have simply met at another time and place.

He admits to spending a great deal of time dreaming about them being together, and the day when they can stay together forever. He’s convinced that everything that has happened between them shows they are destined for a happily-ever-after ending.

Dot is becoming spoiled by Dart’s faithful letter-writing. In the mornings, she looks forward to seeing his letter on the hall table when she comes home from work for lunch. In the afternoon, she lives off the contents of the letter she’s just received. She says she never imagined how much mental attention one person could occupy in another person’s brain. She claims that again today, she called a customer Dart, but the woman thought she was referring to the darts in her jacket.

Dot cautions him to never write anything in a letter to her mother that he wouldn’t want Dot to read. She says she has not shared his letters with her mother, but Ruth always lets Dot read the ones he writes to her.

Needing to return to work from her lunch break she says she’ll finish the letter later that night. Alas, her mother took her to the library in the evening to research colleges, so she dashed off a final paragraph before going to work the next morning.