Dot received no letters from Dart today, but since she got two yesterday, she says she won’t file a complaint. “Speaking of filing, that’s what Jane and I did most of the day. Honestly, Gale could write sales checks that made more sense than some of the ones we were filing today. We’re both suffering from severe headaches. Guess too much vacation has made us soft. Hope we finish the job tomorrow, ‘tho I could use the $.65 they’re paying me per hour.”
Her mother managed to get her hands on two pounds of chopped beef today, so they had hamburgs for dinner, which satisfied something inside her that hadn’t been satisfied for a long, long time. The fact that Dot emphasized the word “hamburg” makes me believe that it’s something she and Dart rib each other about. I know I’ve seen Dart write about having a “hamburger” at a restaurant. That got me wondering about regional names for foods. I used to see it more as a kid when we traveled around the country. Hero sandwiches in the East went by the name of submarine sandwiches in the Midwest. Soft drinks had many names; from soda, to cokes, to pop. In New England milkshakes were known as frappes. There seems to have been a smoothing out of food vocabulary that has happened slowly over many decades. I suspect that our whole American pop culture is getting more homogeneous, with nationally syndicated TV shows and national restaurant franchises, everyone is hearing the same names for things and being exposed to more universal experiences. Think of the last time you saw a new dining establishment at any exit off an interstate highway. Almost anywhere you travel now in the USA, you can get a sense of never having left home. The other thing about Dots hamburg story that strikes me is that there is still a serious meat shortage so many months post-war. I wonder when they were finally back to pre-war production levels.
She reports that shorthand is becoming increasingly difficult. It takes what she calls a very good imagination to understand the little squiggles. She and Jane are both still having fun, but it is a challenge!
“We all appreciated your message of sympathy about the Dodgers. They gave a good fight, anyway. Now it’s up to the Boston Red Sox to put the Cardinals in their place. And they will!”
She’s a little stunned at Dart’s bank balance. She sends best wishes for his father’s job search.
She’s still thinking of buying a second hand typewriter. She’s seen a few ads in the paper for used ones that are listed as “practically new” or “nearly perfect.” Since their price is just $25, she has some doubts about the veracity of the advertising. She’ll need to see how well she can stretch her $28 weekly paycheck.
Yes, she saw the article about the astronomer from Cleveland. She thinks going to those free lectures would be fun, but mostly because of her escort.
She agrees that Carolyn and Martha are cute kids and she thoroughly enjoyed Dart’s story about them in his recent letter.
And now we get to the meat of the matter. “Please Darling, Don’t be my ‘repentant fiance’ any longer. I don’t want you to stop being my fiance until next June, but don’t be a repentant one. If you said or did anything wrong, which I doubt, you have been forgiven. I’ll probably benefit more from that misunderstanding than from all the nice things you say to me. In fact, I think we’ll both be a great deal more tolerant of one another. I wish we could forget it, but since we can’t, let’s pretend we have and not mention it anymore. I love you with all my heart, and if you love me even half that much, I’m luckier than I deserve to be.”
“I wonder what it is that makes you so wonderful. Never mind – I’ll take you as you are, no questions asked.”