Dart was overjoyed to get six letters from Dot today, but his greatest joy was the news about her health. He’s never been so worried in his life and he’s grateful his prayers were answered.
He got off chow duty this afternoon but must report to midnight watch shortly, so he’s going to bed early and try to catch up on some sleep before reporting for duty again.
“It seems as though we’ve fallen in love all over again, doesn’t it? That makes it even better; falling in love when we’re already head-over-heels in it.”
It seems like “old times” for Dot, writing from her little apartment in the Miller’s house. The boys have grown since she saw them last month and she was delighted that Chris remembered her right away. She’s decided that with the exception of Toni Gale, little boys are cuter than little girls. I certainly hope she changed her mind less then a decade later after her first two children were daughters!
The Millers went to a huge dinner party where El happens to be working. She’ll be serving and cleaning the kitchen. Dot would rather have the babysitting gig, but El will make more money. The other day, El suggested that the two of them pool their money at the end of each week. Dot thinks it’s a great idea, because last week she sat home while El worked five nights in a row. “If we go by that system, someone’s going to get rooked, and I don’t mean me.”
Dot comments that she knows Dart is happier now than he was a year ago, but she’d rather he be safe in Great Lakes hospital than at sea. She asks if there’s any chance that he’ll be kept in the country. I rather doubt the Navy would go to all the trouble of training him how to fire the big guns aboard a ship, let him graduate high in his class and then keep him state-side. It doesn’t seem like there’d be much call for his new-found skills in the good ol’ USA.
Gordon has told similar stories about the infamous Navy physicals and shares Dart’s opinion of them. In fact, her brother had to have three physicals before they let him into the Navy. The test results never changed but they just got tired of examining him, so they let him in at last.
She’s looking forward to going to the last Greenwich High School football game on Thanksgiving Day. It’s with their rival Stamford and both teams are very good this year. She reminds Dart that he did, in fact, tell her about the girl he dated because she lived so close to the stadium. “We don’t live too far from the Greenwich field, if that’s any incentive to take me to a football game sometime.”
Did she ever tell him that she’s a pretty good football player? She was the captain of the Alley Cats team which was chased by the police three times for playing on private property. “Mama’s little angel? I’m ‘fraid not,” she says.
She wonders if he gives the same sales pitch about her as she gives about him. She has several women at work almost convinced they married the wrong man. She’s had to tell them that there’s only one Dart to be had, and he’s spoken for, so they’ve all decided to keep the husbands they have.
Responding to Dart’s question about Michael Smith – Dot’s “most hated person,” she declares the subject closed. They passed each other on the street the other day and he asked her for a date, but she’s not having any of that. He’s apparently quite a creep.
She’s happy that Betty B is living with them while Gordon is away. Then, if Dot doesn’t hear from Dart for awhile, she’ll have Betty’s shoulder to cry on. Dot finds the idea of going days without a letter from him “most distasteful” but she will continue to write to him every day while he’s at sea.
For now, she must hit the sack and dream of him.
