It’s nearly midnight but Dart still has two hours worth of work to do – most of it preparation for his American Lit test. He knows some of what he’s supposed to know, but he’s heard that Mr. Carter gives tough tests and that he grades his English majors on a harder scale. Dart wishes he could keep all those old guys who wrote of Colonial times straight in his head.
It’s okay with him if she reads his letters with a supply of salt nearby. “I’m a worrier, I guess. But whenever I feel sure about things or make good predictions, things go just backwards. Can’t let that happen so I worry and fret.”
What else should he say about her letter? He hopes she and El decide to go hiking with the church group. It could be loads of fun, and he wishes he could be there. He’s happy to read she likes her job better now. Also glad to know she doesn’t have to go to the Rucquois anymore. He wonders what’s wrong with Dot R. that she needs so much help, and that makes him wonder how Harriet is doing. Isn’t she about due for the big event?
“As I look back on my speaking to you about acting as though you didn’t care about learning, I remember that I act that way myself many times. Another example of seeing one’s own faults in others, whether others have them or not.”
He was talking to Pop today about himself and Dot. Pop said that he and Mom had expected them to get married sooner than June and that would be fine with them. They even thought that earlier might have been better than June! (Now they say something!) Dart told him that they wouldn’t feel right about getting married without Mom and Pop there. “Pop seems a bit squeamish about big weddings and I can’t convince him that such things are all in the Chamberlain stride, and all he has to do is relax and be carried along with the flow. Pop said it would be fine for us to get married without them, but I put my foot down fast!”
Dart continues to say that he’s glad they’ve had this Fall apart so that he could get squared away about that big misunderstanding they went through. He’s fine with it now, and convinced that he was in the wrong. He wishes they had decided to get married at Christmas, and he’d even suggest they try to make that happen now if his parents could get there and if their own situation were slightly better. “Mom and Pop said that as long as they have a roof, we’ll have one. There’s not that much that’s keeping us from our ideal. “Good night Dot. I love you and miss you until it hurts. (Your phrase, but it’s very much applicable to the situation.)”
# # #
In response to a question Dart posed in one of the two letters Dot received today, she writes, “How is it that I can say so much in so few words? Perhaps the answer is that I don’t say anything anyway, so it is just as well to get it over with as quickly as possible.”
The letter he wrote on Sunday gave her a warm glow and made her feel even more lonesome than before. Just as she was fighting back tears, she flipped the last page over and saw his silly drawing of the dancing couple. “You loony nut! If you don’t mind, I’m going to try and make a large copy of it to put on the wall.”
The longer she works at the phone company, the more she likes it. Today they took a lot of real calls and she gets a kick out of those. She’s been invited to join other employees in the nice company dining room tomorrow night for a spaghetti dinner. At first she declined the invitation because she wanted to come home and check the mail over her break, but she was granted the few minutes it’ll take to complete that task so that she could still join in the fun.
Her supervisor also informed her today that she’s making $30.00 per week now, instead of the $28.00 she was told she’d be paid. There is a $2.00 bonus for anyone who works past 6:00 PM. Dot has no complaints about that! Her boss, Mrs. Knapp told her that it should be fairly easy for her to transfer to the business side of the company if she completes her shorthand course. Although Mrs. Knapp is not too pleased to lose Dot to Cleveland in June. She suggests Dot convince Dart to move to Greenwich instead.
Even though she missed the previous class, her shorthand instructor gave Dot extra attention tonight and says Dot is completely caught up with the rest of the class now.
“Surely when you take the time to write a 6-page letter about your ideas of a well-rounded college education, I ought to be able to make some outstanding comment. However, you know me well enough to know that any comment I might make wouldn’t be outstanding. I agree with you 100% but that’s small consolation for such a masterpiece. I certainly haven’t specialized in anything, but I don’t consider myself well educated. I’ve worked at everything from gas station attendant to practical nurse and I doubt that anyone envies me my varied and sundry positions.”
She tells Dart that she’s glad he writes such letters because it makes her proud to know she will marry a man with sound ideas that he can express well.
Even though it’s time for bed, she plans to read another chapter or two of “Rebecca.” Speaking of which, “Don’t you think ‘Becky Peterson’ sound cute? I want your honest opinion, but I can just picture a cute little brown-haired, brown-eyed girl who answers to the name of Becky. Sorta getting ahead of myself, aren’t I?”
Well, Dot, you were about 35 years ahead of having a cute little brown-haired, brown-eyed daughter-in-law who answers to the name of Becky Peterson!