As happy as Dot is that Dart finally got some mail, she’s also very impressed that he maintains his smooth disposition, even in the face of long lulls in mail delivery. Her father can always tell by her mood whether or not she has had a recent letter from Dart. When I have, “I’m cheerful, silly, and willing to do anything for anybody. But when two or three days go by with no mail, better clear a path, Bud, or you’ll be sorry! Then, I fall lower than a snake’s belly.”

She goes on to say “One of your first jobs (after I answer to your last name instead of mine) is to train me to have a disposition just like yours.”

Today she’s in high spirits because she has a letter from both Dart and his mother. They carry the same news – that’s he’s coming home soon. “It all seems too good to be true, but I will surely continue to hope and pray for the best.”

She’s grateful that he changed his mind about becoming engaged before the war ended. Now that she has a small idea about what he went through to change his mind, she’s glad she didn’t know while it was happening, or she’d have been a nervous wreck. “You realize, of course, that you’ve never hinted that you were doing anything but cruising around in the Pacific. No doubt you’ve seen much more action than I care to think about, but one could never guess it from your letters. You shall never cease to amaze me.”

She wonders if Dart has mentioned their marriage plans to his folks. His mother didn’t mention anything in her letter. Dot would love to say something to his parents, but thinks it’s Dart’s place to break the news to them. She’s frustrated by the need to work these things out over such great expanses of time and distance. It seems like they’re always playing catch-up on their news. She’d love it if he would use his powers of persuasion to convince his parents to attend the engagement party in Greenwich.

Saying that she’s sure they will get to build their house in due time, she turns the house into a metaphor. “When one sets out to build something, he sees to it that the foundation is made of the strongest materials, put together in the best possible way. We’ve got our foundation already built: a love so strong that nothing could break it down or tear it apart. That’s the basic thing, isn’t it? To be sure, we’ll encounter many problems, but we’ll be prepared for those and we’ll see them through together.”

“Every time I read the sentence…’It may even be possible for me to get up to Greenwich earlier’, my stomach feels like butterflies, the way it did when you called me from San Francisco. Gee, but I’m excited!…The only thing that calms me down a little is to remember how disappointed I was when I found out you couldn’t come to my Senior Prom after I’d counted on seeing you so much.”

Her evenings this week are devoted entirely to babysitting. She claims the bags under her eyes are starting to look like coal pits.

She closes with “Glad you play this game of love for keeps. In my humble opinion, that’s the only way it should be played.