Dart writes a serious letter tonight, while the memory of Dot’s sweet voice is still echoing in his “empty head.” If you read between the lines, you may detect a faint note of desperation on these pages.
He tells her that he will graduate on or about November 4. At that time, he will get nine days of leave. If you count at least three days to get to Cleveland and another three to get to his “shipping-out place,” that doesn’t leave much time to visit his family. His question for Dot is if she thinks she could arrange to get out to Ohio and stay with his family for his short visit there. He’s written his folks to see what they think of the idea, but he’s sure they would want her to be included in his leave.
“Please don’t get your hopes too high over this. It’s just wishful thinking, but mighty serious wishful thinking on my part. Just let me know how you stand on it.”
His class is entering a rugged period of study over the next couple of weeks – very dfficult and complex material that must be mastered. He doubts he’ll be able to write very much during the coming days.
After some other chitchat about his plans for a long-delayed liberty this weekend, he closes with a poignant paragraph. “No, Dearest. The chances are getting much slimmer for my seeing you this January. My only hope after that is that I’ll ever get to see you again. Oh, there I go again – getting pessimistic. Let’s hope for all of the best dear, and then let’s both work hard to make our hopes come true.”
“Happy Anniversary,” is Dot’s opening line. “Even when I’m 50, I’ll still look upon September 25, 1943 as the most wonderful day of my life.” (Probably when she’s 88, too.)
She tells Dart she got a little “de-vancement” at Franklin Simons today. She’s been moved down to the first floor, in charge of socks. Stop the madness! Does it get any more thrilling than that?
She’s been ironing for two hours and is too drowsy to write much more. But, she reminds him that they have agreed to have no secrets from each other, so why won’t he tell her who he supports in the presidential election? “Only if it’s who I think it is, for Heaven’s sake, tell me why!”
