Dot begins by telling Dart that his letter that came today made her feel so much better. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they could float a battleship in my tears of the last few days. Today it was pathetic…I’d start to wait on a customer. My eyes would start to run. (Not run away, just drip down.)”

She reports that the store did lots of moving of stock while she was away. It’s embarrassing to tell a customer you have what they’re looking for, then spend time searching in every drawer and shelf, only to learn it’s been moved to the third floor.

There are a couple of bits she writes that remind me of an Abbott and Costello gag. After explaining the confusion around the store today, she quips “Such is life without a wife. And here I am with a man, but look where he is!” Later, she tells Dart she regrets buying two boxes of the new stationery that is scratchy against her pen. She writes “That’s where the money goes. What money? Oh, I give up! You tell me!” She is certainly in a playful mood today, probably as a result of getting a letter from Dart.

She fills a paragraph with rapid fire questions: Were you comfy on the train? Did you get a seat? Was it pleasant traveling with some buddies? Is Shoemaker as bad as you thought? Worse? Do you know where you’ll be going next? Will these questions help fill the page? Do you love me?

She tells Dart in strictest confidence that she managed to buy three packs of Pall Mall cigarettes to send his father. “I’m just an old apple polisher, but if it’ll assure his feelings for me (to the good, of course), I’ll send him cigarettes if I have to roll ’em myself.”

She feels like she knows him better than she did before, so they’re both better off for having seen each other. She’ll get no argument from Dart on that score.

Remembering their time she together, she wishes now that they’d sat up all night on Thursday, just talking. It wouldn’t have been smart because of his long trip the following day, but she thinks it would have been fun. She suggests they make plans for the not-too-distant future to try out her idea. She also promises to open up even more the next time they see each other, which she prays will be very soon. Meanwhile, she’ll practice talking to his picture, which is why she asked for one where he is looking directly at her.

I’m a little confused by some of the content in the remaining pages of the letter because it refers to things from Dart’s letter that arrived today. They are topics not covered in any of the letters I have from Dart around this time, so there must be one missing.  I’ll comment on Dot’s letters and attempt to fill in what might have been in the missing letter of Dart’s.

She says she was hoping Shoemaker would be better than he had hoped, but from his description, it isn’t. She comments that six weeks from last Monday would be just a few days before Christmas and surely the Navy will let him stay in the country for Christmas Day! My guess is that Dart told her his assignment at Shoemaker would end on that date and she’s wondering if that’s the actual day he’ll be shipped out. She asks for instructions on when and where to send his Christmas package, which she assumes will take about two weeks to reach him.

She asks him what he’s usually doing around 9:00 PM. She was thinking of him around midnight the other night and she got a chill up her spine, much like the one she gets when she looks at him. She wonders if they happened to be thinking the same thoughts at the same time. (I’ve no doubt they were both thinking of each other, because that’s 98% of what either of them thinks about.) Anyway, she likes to play these little games – she even steps on Lucky Strike packages and wishes on stars for luck. The star trick is one I’ve heard of, but stepping on Lucky Strike packages? That’s a new one. I was always taught to pick up litter, not wish on it!

There must have been a weather report in Dart’s letter because she says it has nothing on the weather in Greenwich, which has seen rain for several days.

She tells Dart that she has delayed the much deserved thank-you note to his parents for their wonderful hospitality in Cleveland. The reason for her procrastination is threefold: she’s awaiting the photo enlargements she ordered, she’s been collecting more cigarettes to send to Pop and she’s made his mother a couple of aprons. She deeply appreciates how welcome his family made her feel. As for Dart, she thinks it’ll take forever to thank him enough.