Dart is unhappy that he must give Dot the news she hasn’t wanted to hear. He has a sailing date. The John R Craig will leave the Navy yard on Friday, January 18 and sail out of Charleston Harbor the following day. Their first stop is Panama and they are scheduled to reach the west coast of the US within three weeks.
Unlike wartime, he doesn’t have to hint that she may not be hearing from him for quite a while. Even though he’s not supposed to write about ship movements, even in peace time, no one really cares any more and there are no censors keeping an eye on things.
“What was the longest time you spent without a letter from me when I was out before? You surely don’t think it’ll be that long a period this time, do you?” He doesn’t mention that the waiting during wartime must have seemed far longer than waiting when she knows he’s not in harm’s way.
He probably won’t write every day while underway. “This trip will probably be as rough as they come, but it’s all in the game. I surely had my share of smooth sailing on the Haggard, so I don’t expect any on the Craig.” He’s kicking himself that he’ll be leaving without any film because he couldn’t find the size he needs in Charleston. He regrets shooting all the rolls he had, except for the Kodachrome Dot sent him, which works best in sunny climates.
He spends his precious writing time dreaming about all the things he’d like to be doing; working on his railroad, talking things over with Dot after a nice date. He’s too glum to write much more tonight. He wrote two 10-page letters last night and it’s left him flat.
He thanks her for the birthday presents of some classical recordings. It’s turning out that they may have a number of little luxuries with which to fill their house (or a couple of rooms to start.) Now they should begin planning to replace his decrepit record player with one that will do the music justice. As they attend concerts together in the future, he hopes they’ll make note of their favorite pieces so they can add them to the collection. Also, they’ll need some popular tunes as well to dance to.
“Goodnight, Dot. Gee, how I wish that I could say it (in a whisper). Can’t be too much longer, Dearest. I feel in a pleading mood tonight, but there’s nothing to plead with you about. Only the Navy. Oh yes – please don’t feel too awfully blue when the ship leaves.”
# # #
Dot got three letters from Dart today which probably means none tomorrow. That doesn’t bother her now, but just wait until tomorrow! She’s going to try to answer all three while most of her housemates are still at school. If she waits until evening, there are usually five or six conversations going on and her powers of concentration are no match for the distractions. “Not even when I’m writing to the person who is virtually my whole life.”
They enjoyed some beautiful spring weather last week, but it has “stepped aside to let winter back in.” The howling winter winds make quite a racket as they whip around the corners of “this weird house up on the hill.”
She reminds him that his birthday package is from both her and her mother. They worked on it together while Dot was home and then Ruth added to it.
Looking back on how much time they wasted in their early courtship by both being so shy, she’s decided she’s glad it happened that way. After all, now that they’ve moved past all that, their time together means even more. The fact that they were equally shy probably helped build the mutual understanding that seemed to form so quickly between them.
No, she didn’t notice the approving looks that Puckett and Martin supposedly gave her. “Needless to say, I’m glad they gave them, although it’s sad to think that three such seemingly intelligent boys would have such poor taste in some things.”
She’s not as dubious about how her parents will react to their desire to marry earlier as she is about his parents’ reaction. She thinks her folks will say it is a decision that Dot and Dart must make for themselves. “And yet they can’t help but harbor some ideas on the subject and it’s up to us to find out what those ideas are.”
If she’d had any idea Dart was so well-informed about contraceptive methods, she would have kept the thought to herself. Now he’ll have to wait until she has fully researched, read and digested all the information she can find before they discuss it further. “Seems to me when Mom was giving me the ‘dope’ about the birds and the bees, she neglected to even touch upon that subject. But then, 12 is a little young to talk about such things.” She will say now, however, that she has no religious objections to using artificial means. It seems more “sinful” to her to bring a child into the world that you are not prepared for and cannot afford to support
From where she sits, 17 months sounds like a very long time to wait for a wedding, but she guesses it will go by pretty fast once he’s out of the Navy. “Besides, if we get married June 20th (the day after I’ll be 21), it’s only about 521 days or 74 weeks and three days. Does that sound better?”
She thought she’d read all the recent issues of Life, but she has no idea what sport he was referring to in his recent letter. Can he enlighten her? Also, she can’t image what big moral, ethical and emotional question he wants to ask her, but she hopes he doesn’t forget to ask it. She suspects she’ll be as much “at sea” about it as he is.
Dot tells Dart how much fun she had going to church with his mother on Sunday. In fact, she has lots of fun whatever she does with his parents. She’s so indebted to them for their many kindnesses, and for having a son like Dart. She wishes she could find some meaningful way of showing them how grateful she is to them. Someday she’ll try to show her deep appreciation for this swell pair.
The things he writes about looking forward to are the same kind of things she dreams of. It’s never material things, but rather everyday occurrences. One thing in particular that she gets a kick out of imagining is seeing Dart discipline their kids. She can’t imagine that he’ll raise his voice, but she thinks he’ll be quite successful without doing that. She hopes all their kids turn out to be just like their Pop!
“I’ll leave you with this thought which I want you to always remember – I love you, I have loved you since the moment I first saw you, and I will continue to love you ad infinitum.”