It seems Dart’s the busy one now, and with good reason; he’s trying hard, along with the rest of his company, to obtain an early leave. It’s not looking too promising, but he dreams of extra time so that he could make the trip to Greenwich. He says if his family can’t stand having him around, he’ll be there yet.
He was happy to receive her letter, mailed directly to his new (and soon to be “former”) address. He still gets a little chill when he sees that confirmation that he is, indeed, no longer in the hospital.
Hearing that she’d sold her bike, he asks what they will use for transportation when they have their picnic. On second consideration, he believes a tandem would be more fun anyway.
For the final paragraph in the letter, Dart writes, “Thanks for ‘being’, Dearest. You’re what I expect to fight for.” I find that incredibly poignant and sweet.
Having peppered the short note with numerous “dearests,” Dart’s PS is cute: Sort of went all out on the dearest angle tonight, didn’t I? Anyway, I got the idea across I hope.
This bright and enthusiastic letter from Dot shows just how proud she is of Dart’s test scores. “I told you Case would regret letting such a good man go, but why talk of such elementary schools as Case?,” she joked.
She went on to speculate about where he might be stationed. “I s’pose you won’t know where you’re going ’til you report after your leave, will you? Something tells me it’s not my luck to have you be somewhere near here, so I guess I’ll give up seeing you until the score is settled in Berlin and Tokyo.”
She comments that the fire control sounds interesting and she bets he’ll love it. She’s so glad someone in that Navy finally let him know just how worthwhile he is to the country. “It would be a shame if they let you develop a “Casper Milquetoast complex,” she wrote, referencing a comic strip in the Herald Tribune.
His story of the exercise in transmitting verbal orders during a sea battle reminded her of a game of telephone she once played at a party. The message relayed by whisper from person to person to person resulted in Dot shouting out an embarrassing version of the original message when her turn came.
She suggests he might talk his parents into taking a sightseeing trip to NYC during his leave and just happen to stop by Greenwich. They have four empty beds at the Chamberlain house, so it wouldn’t be a problem!
Dart’s superior intelligence has her a little worried that he’ll discover her to be a low grade moron. Quips Dot, “I’m thinking of going to night school and taking a 9-week course on “How to Become a Genius.” Then she adds, “I’m not making fun of you, Dart. I’m really awfully proud of you.”
