Dart’s greeting is a cheery one today as he enjoys the beautiful local weather and hopes Dot is having the same so they can enjoy it “together.” He tells her he’s felt so close to her the last couple of weeks that at any moment he wouldn’t have been surprised to look up and see her watching him.

Bringing her up to date on his activities, he tells her that he read the Sunday newspaper this morning and wrote a letter to his brother Burke. Yesterday he made a final walk through of the soon-to-be former USS Haggard. He hopes he’ll be able to attend the decommissioning ceremony later this week. They’ll probably play Taps as her flag is lowered for the last time and this feisty little fighting ship “dies in disfavor and disregard.”

If he ever tires of writing letters, he may do laundry. For now, he still has more clean clothes than dirty ones, by a slim margin. He’s toying with the idea of just washing all he has of one item, such as socks or shirts, and saving the rest for another day so he can extending his griping a little while longer. Oh well, at least he’s having fun with his griping now.

He believes he heard a lecture by Robert Frost when he was in junior high school. He asks, Isn’t he the one who writes in free verse about things like the fog creeping in on little cat feet? No, Dart, that’s e.e.cummings, but I guess a junior high boy can be forgiven for mixing up his poets.

He just ran into some former Haggard men who were transferred a while ago.The general rule of thumb is that one can expect transfer papers roughly three weeks after returning from a 30-day leave. If that’s true, Dart can expect his papers in about a week. He fully expects the Navy will continue its practice of assigning men as far as possible from their homes.

Miss Garnett’s grading method of S and U grades is not too pleasing to Dart. How can a student really mark his or her progress if that’s all the feed back they receive? It also gives the teacher a chance for some underhanded practices. Still, he’s happy to hear the old dame likes Dot’s ring!

After great effort his penny collection is growing steadily at last. She may call him Penny Pincher now. “Every one I get has my fingerprint superimposed forever on Lincoln’s face.”

Last night, Dart and his pals went into town for dinner at their favorite Italian restaurant and then to see a movie. “Betrayal From the East” was a rip-roaring spy story with some romance thrown in. It would make a good B picture in a double feature, but it only cost him 30 cents, so he won’t complain.

It’s fine with him if she wants to learn to jitterbug. He’d love to watch her do it, but has no great urge to learn how himself. He has enough to do to learn how to slow dance with her. “It’ll take some time to get rid of the rust and the creaky hinges, but we get along so beautifully in other ways that we should be able to dance well together, too.”

Rather than calling her Robin Hood on account of her prowess with a bow, he prefers Wilhelmina Tell. And he can’t wait to see her Rockette impersonation with the tap dancing.

“Gosh, I’m all through answering your letters. That looks bad. What I mean is: I have no more of your letters to answer.” With that, he sends his love and signs off.

Such a great letter from Dot that completely reflects her spirit! As she was listening to Tchaikovsky’s 5th symphony today, she felt especially close to Dart. “Somehow, music like that is more soothing to me than anything else in the world, save your arms around me holding me very tightly. Oh, there’re so many things I want in the furnishings of that ‘dream house’ of ours that it’s hard to know where to begin. We surely want a varied and extensive record library.”

She went to a Lutheran church this morning with Janie and Joyce. She was surprised by the amount of ritual there was in the service compared to what she’s used to, but the sermon was excellent. It was entitled “Has Christianity Failed?” and left her with plenty to think about. She was shocked to learn that fewer than 50% of Americans call themselves Christians, but then she recalled that she hasn’t been inside a church since she went with Dart in August.

She just looked over at Dart’s picture and he winked at her. She’s glad none of the other girls were there to see it or they’d get jealous. As long as they’re not around, he should feel free to wink at her as much as he wants.

This afternoon she and Janie had a wonderful talk and she felt so good afterward, after both girls had a good cry. She sure wishes Dart had a chance to meet Janie because she’s such a good thinker and loads of fun. In fact, since so many girls are out for the weekend, Janie will sleep in Dots room tonight. “We’ll have oodles of fun, but get precious little sleep.”

She’s frustrated that her radio only plays when it feels like it, which is mostly during the Roy Rogers “hillbilly hour.” She fears the train trip from Greenwich didn’t do it much good.

There’s lots of romance in the air at her house. Mid called to say she’s spending an extra day at home because her man came home unexpectedly. Joyce’s crush called her from Illinois yesterday and told her they’d be married a year from now. She’s 17 and he’s 18, so the youngsters are getting a jump on Dot and Dart. Phyl just came back from a weekend with friends and is wearing her boyfriend’s big class ring. Looks like Dot and Dart started something!

Immediately after Dot wrote to Dart that she loves him, Janie came in and told her to tell Dart that she (Dot) loves him. “I just told him that,” said Dot. “Well, you still love him, don’t you, so tell him again!”

Dot filled the rest of the page with multiple “I love you’s” before saying goodnight.