Dot called home from work to see if there were any letters and her mother told her there was a telegram for her. She asked her to read it over the phone and was surprised and delighted to learn that Dart did not ship out yesterday as scheduled. The surprise came from the fact that she had not yet received the letter announcing the dire news, so she’d had no idea to be sad or worried. “Now that I’m forewarned it won’t be quite so hard (it says here in fine print).
She went to see “Since You Went Away” with Janie and her family last night and cried terribly. Such a sad movie may be a bad choice for a young woman in love with a sailor about to leave for war.
Tonight she’s babysitting with Carter Ford and was surprised to have a long chat with his father tonight. He’s a Navy lieutenant, junior grade, stationed in Norfolk, VA and he called home to talk to his wife. Since she wasn’t there, he spoke with Dot for awhile. He sounds nice, and his pictures show that he’s not bad looking, but Dot would prefer the attentions of another Navy man any day of the week.
She still sits for Chris and Eric. They came to the Chamberlain house to see what Santa brought Dot, and she’ll be watching them over New Year’s Eve. While on the subject of her favorite kids, Dot talks a bit about Gale. She came to the house over Christmas wearing a pleated plaid skirt that matched her mother’s skirt and her father’s shirt. She’s spending the night at the Chamberlain’s house tonight and was upset that Dot wouldn’t be there because of her babysitting job. To appease her, Dot has promised to fix her breakfast in the morning.
Dot says she understands why Dart doesn’t want to call anyone before he leaves the country and she agrees it’s probably better that way. She hopes the next time he calls it will be to say he’s at the station and needs her to come pick him up. If he ends up being sent to Australia, she hopes there’s a model railroad club to keep him occupied because she’s heard the Aussie girls are very pretty. She also says that if he goes to Pearl Harbor he should forget about the grass skirt because there’s not enough grass in the place to make a skirt big enough.
With Christmas behind her, she needs to focus on Dart’s birthday gift. She knows what she’s getting him but needs some advice on when to send it.
Referring to the “horrible” photos he had taken on his last liberty in San Francisco, she says “Send ’em on!” She’s never seen a bad photo of him, plus she’s building a collection of Dart pictures and wants a whole set.
She says Dart’s description of S.F. reminds her of Gordon’s letter about Norfolk, except 100% better. Norfolk isn’t even pretty during the daylight hours.
She loved the Christmas card he sent, but it got her into trouble. Her family kept insisting that she read it to all of them, but the contents were apparently either very steamy, very intimate, or both, so she had to fight like the dickens to keep them from seeing what it said. When she reads such things, she likes to pretend that Dart is saying the words into her ear. She couldn’t imagine her whole family being present to hear that!
She loves the sketches of the house he sent and is now eager to see what he’ll do with the upstairs. She really likes to think of “their house.” The plans look mighty good to her, but so would an old barn if she knew he’d be in it.
