Dart is in a state of near euphoria as he starts this letter. He has talked to Dot today! Long distance phone calls have become so commonplace in our lives today that I often forget the power they held back then. To hear a loved one’s voice! To know they spared no expense in reaching out to you! What sheer joy those calls must have brought!
After the fact, Dart was disappointed that he hadn’t been able to say more to her over the phone. Too many guys around with their noses in Dart’s business caused him to remark that the old saying “Everybody loves a lover” was proved wrong by the guys who tried to ruin the call from a sweetheart.
Dart seems a little glum that his parents won’t be coming to see him during the holiday rush, even though he suggested that they wait.
Today he had the chance to listen to some good programs on the radio; Fred Waring and Sherlock Holmes. Now he’s had two wishes fulfilled – hearing those shows and hearing Dot’s voice. If only he’d been able to see her and hold her in his arms and whisper in her ear, he’d be content.
Earlier in the day, he’d been to see a variety show in the hospital’s auditorium. The acts included a magician, a singer, and a novelty orchestra made up of sailors. With cleaning the ward every day, running errands for the bed patients, having his dressings changed twice daily, writing letters, attending shows and “waiting with breathless suspense and a cold sweat for mail call,” the days are passing quickly. He writes, “I’m afraid that after I get out into the great, cold world again, the pace will be too fast and I’ll retire into my moss-covered shell and sleep fitfully the rest of my days.” It seems like no one ever really mentions going off into combat, but that eventuality must be on nearly every American’s mind in those times.
He closes with his love – even more than before, now that he has heard her dear, sweet voice again.
Dot had apparently promised to write a 10-page letter and this was the day. She begins by talking about the weather which has taken a wonderful turn. Our little New Englander is delighted to see all the snow of late, and says the campus looks like a Christmas card. She told Dart that she had also taken note of the beautiful full moon a few nights earlier and thought what a horrible waste such a lovely moon was at a girls’ school. Still, it shone into her bedroom window and directly on Dart’s picture.
Responding to his letter of Dec. 11, she said she was glad that what she wrote on the letter made him happy, but she almost didn’t want him to see it. She’s still a little shy about her feelings for him, and she’s afraid he’ll think she’s too “fast.” (Slim chance of that!)
Page four begins with an enthusiastic “ZOWIE!” She has just returned to her room after getting a phone call from a certain sailor at Great Lakes hospital. “I’m afraid I didn’t give you much chance to say anything, but when I get excited like that, there’s no stopping me,” she wrote. She’s still shaking as she writes these pages and deems the phone call the most wonderful thing that has happened to her this year.
She explained again her lack of enthusiasm for the upcoming formal dance and expressed hopes that his folks would be able to get to Chicago soon for a visit. She also asked him what he meant by that line about birthdays and hexes on relationships. I’m so glad she posed that question, because I’ve been wondering that myself. Maybe we’ll both get an answer in a day or so.
I neglected to mention in a previous post that Dart had told Dot about receiving a letter from a girl he didn’t know who was seeking sailors she could write to and had received his address from a friend. Dart commented that he had no intention of writing her back because he had no interest in girls who threw themselves at sailors. Well, I love Dot’s response to that little anecdote. She said, “Why aren’t you going to write to that girl? If I wrote to a sailor or anyone, I’d feel awful if they didn’t answer. After all, it’s just common courtesy. I appreciate your seeming loyalty, but I think you should answer the letter anyway. But do what you think you should.” How sensitive and mature for such a young woman!
She wrote about a concert they had attended at school – violin and piano – which she enjoyed tremendously.
Having run out of news of her own, she told a tale of her roommate Nancy. Nancy had decided to slip out after hours to spend more time with her boyfriend who was in town from Detroit. She asked Dot and another friend to help her pull it off. Even as they tried to talk her out of it, they knew Nancy would do what she wanted anyway, so they decided to help her by leaving the 2nd story door on the fire escape ajar. Dot fell asleep worrying about Nancy at about 1:00 and awoke to find her just getting in at 4:00. Dot was relieved Nancy had pulled it off, but still thought her friend was a damned fool to have tried it.
She finally got to page 10 and thanked Dart again for the phone call, saying the whole cottage heard her scream when she found out it was Dart calling.
