This letter of Dart’s ambles all over the map, stopping occasionally to address a topic from Dot’s recent letter before skittering off the path to an unrelated thought. As usual, the pages are laced with humor, wisdom, news and chit-chat.
He hopes she has received the package he sent her when he thought he was leaving the hospital. It’s a bracelet he made her in the wood shop. If I remember correctly from my secret childhood forays through the mysterious landscape of my mother’s top dresser drawer, the bracelet was made of small pieces of wood, like square disks, linked together with a thin strip of something; Leather? Plastic? I don’t recall. I never saw her wearing it – perhaps it was out of fashion by then, or not to her liking – but she kept it, nonetheless. I’ll have to ask her if she still has it. (It’s been decades since I rummaged through her things.)
But I digress, as Dart’s letter did a time or two. He drops a cryptic line about his relapse perhaps being worse than he wants to think about right now. In the past when he’s made comments like that, we learn in a day or so that his concerns were not unfounded. I hope this time he’s wrong.
He agrees with Dot’s assessment that he should try very hard to make it through the remaining days of boot camp so he can get his leave, at last. He knows that a dozen home-cooked meals, and time with friends and family would do him more good than any more time in this hospital.
As I predicted, he is intrigued with Dot’s comments about the ice bag drenching his bed having reminded her of an untold story from her time at Andrews. He begins to guess what the story is and begs her to “shoot the works” and just tell him.
He admits that she made lots of good points about his attitude in her letter and he promises to ponder them and see what he can do about it.
After some other trivia, he says “I hope you’re not too disappointed if I can’t think fast enough to say the type of things I cook up in my letters. Maybe if you let me speak as slowly as I think, I might be able to say the same things.” He then goes on for quite some distance about hearing letters that are chock full of “darlings” and typical lovey-dovey language. They have a hollow ring to his ear and he finds himself wondering how sincere they are and how many sailors and soldiers are getting identical letters from the same “sweet young thing.” He assures her that he is sincere in what he writes, even if he’s unable to say them in person. “But, who knows? Maybe with the proper inspiration, I can say ’em when we’re together again.” If anyone’s taking bets, I put my money on the affirmative. He will hardly be able to stop himself with all the pretty talk when Dot is in his arms once more.
He pleads with Dot to take care of her cold. He hates to think of this lovely girl being sick, especially since he believes he’s been sick enough for both of them to cover the rest of their lives.
He closes by saying there are only 15 guys left in his ward – five of whom are bed patients. There was discussion among the nurses today to have the corpsmen wheel those five out into the courtyard to enjoy the sunshine, but in the end, only the ambulatory patients were allowed that privilege.
With Mrs. Pecsok and baby Linda home from the hospital, Dot has returned to her house. She seems almost breathless as she describes a family outing to Todd’s Beach on Long Island Sound yesterday. The first treat for Dot was the fact that her father joined the party for his first beach trip in five years. The group also included the Ruquoi family – Dot’s cousin Dot, her Belgian husband Leon and their children. They had lived in Belgium for 12 years before returning to New York a couple of years ago. This was a kind of farewell visit because they were about to move to the Belgian Congo. Writes Dot (Chamberlain), “Those kids have certainly ‘seen the world,’ and they didn’t have to join the Navy to do it. ”
Dot’s cousin Waddy was also there. He’s her first cousin whose resemblance to Dart is uncanny. He was flattered when he learned that Dot’s first attraction to Dart was that he was a dead-ringer to one of her favorite cousins. The eerie thing is that Waddy just received a medical discharge from the Navy after a long series of ailments, and now he plans to study journalism!
Dot writes that she loves her bracelet. It’s like nothing she’s ever seen before, and she’s proud to accept compliments from all who see it.
She ends the letter by writing, “The reason I haven’t said anything about your being back in the hospital is that I can’t think of anything to say. …I’ll keep my chin up, but sometimes I wonder how much longer this can go on.”
