How nice to hear from Dot after such a long time! She begins by singing the praises of George Washington, loved and admired by students everywhere because they get his birthday off school. Then she begins to tell Dart about her break.
“My last class yesterday was over at 2:50, but I managed, by doing some fast stepping, to catch the 3:05 bus. I had thought I would take the 5:05, but yesterday morning I had a letter from your mom saying she wouldn’t be home from Ashtabula until late evening, so I made a dash up here to get dinner for your pop. No doubt he wishes I hadn’t been so eager, cuz’ the meal wasn’t good. The only thing that was palatable was not because I had made it, but because Campbell’s puts out excellent mushroom soup. The bacon and eggs were greasy and cold by the time we were ready to eat them. My only further comment is that I hope you’re so love-sick the first few weeks we’re married you won’t care what you eat. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. ‘Nuff said?”
Helen called right after dinner to say she wouldn’t be home until tonight, so Dot is holding the fort by herself. She’s enjoying the quiet and using it to help her study biology. She mentions someone named Kathleen who just came by to bring Dot a cherry turnover, which Dot hopes will spoil her appetite for dinner. “I’m preparing it again tonight, and am anticipating neither the task nor the results with much enthusiasm.”
She hopes to get Dart’s new address soon, or she’ll forget all she ever knew about writing letters. Then she quips that she still has her daily fan letters to answer, but her secretary handles all that.
The letter resumes on February 25, when she writes, “My Darling CIVILIAN!” She can’t believe he’s actually home for good. It’ll take some getting used to after all this time apart. “You may disregard all that balony about a new address. I’m satisfied with your present one now. ”
Apparently, Dot rushed into Cleveland to meet Dart as he arrived home from Chicago, because she talks of her bus getting her back to campus just in time for her to dash off to her bowling class. She assumes sleep deprivation must be good for her game, because she scored the second highest out of 22 girls with a 125. (I find it interesting that a phys ed class in bowling was all women – no mixing of the genders would do for such a lusty sport.)
It’s 8:30 PM as she writes this, and she has no idea how she’s stayed awake so long. She’d like to go to bed now and try to “sleep off” her nasty cold, but there are some couples downstairs in the parlor making quite a ruckus with their singing and piano playing. That leads her to a suggestion: Now that he’s home and she’ll be going to Cleveland every weekend to see him, they should make a strict rule about getting to bed by 1:30 every night. “After all, there are no longer any trains you must catch, and we’ve got to discipline ourselves someway. We both agree that the longer we stay up, the longer we want to stay up, therefore, the earlier we go to bed, the easier it will be, and we won’t miss the best part of the next morning. Agreed?”
There was some discussion about what punishment she was given for leaving campus this week. She’s still under the rule that unless she is visiting immediate family, she must have written permission from her parents to leave campus overnight. Fiance’s parents don’t count, so she is guilty of a transgression and has been restricted to campus tonight, tomorrow, and Wednesday, “which means my life proceeds as usual.” Also, if he intends to call her, it must be before 7:30. Yikes! What manner of sin or evil could possibly transpire over the phone after 7:30?
She signs off with a plea that she thank his parents for a wonderful weekend, and still half believing she’s dreaming about him being home for good.
Our next letter will come on February 26th. See you then.