This scarcely qualifies as a news flash, but Dart is lonely. He got a letter from Dot today that was dated December 19th. He guesses it was one of 4,000,000 pieces of mail that the Cleveland post office left undelivered over the holiday when they closed their office early on Tuesday. He comments that the photos of the Pecsok kids are sweet, especially the one of Billy.

“i used your new razor today. It was sure nice. It does a much better job in half the time than the old one. It did such a swell, fast job that I had to call Pop to witness the miracle. Just for your sweetness, I’ll use it every night of our honeymoon just before we go to bed.” (I bet the imagery conjured by that previous sentence gave Dot a tingle, right down to her toes.)

He announces that Green’s hardware store is closed. Ike, Jake, their wives and children have all moved to Knoxville, Tennessee. He’s sorry to see them go. Besides being nice people, theirs was the only decent store left in the neighborhood.

Dot Orr, who of late has been Burke’s off-and-on flame, is definitely off. She wrote him a letter to say she’s going steady with someone else now, leaving Burke high and dry for New Year’s Eve. He even stopped by Edie’s house, but found her conversation too inane to tolerate.

Today the brothers pushed the old jalopy out of the garage and gave it some water before driving it around the corner to the mechanic. There, they had thermostats, anti-freeze, gas and water put in, so the old gal is good for another few months. Burke sprung for the whole job, except the gas and oil.

Pop had in interview today with the guy who ran Quad Hall when Dart, Sr. had his smoke shop and haberdashery there a while ago. He starts the new job on January 2! He’ll be working as a night clerk from 3:00PM until midnight at this small residential hotel. Nobody knows yet how many days a week he’ll work, but Dart thinks it’ll be no more than 7. (Smart guy!) Even across the seven decades, I swear I can hear the sigh of relief emanating from the Peterson apartment on Superior Ave. This should help bring some relief to the household finances and, with luck, to Dart, Sr.’s mental outlook.

That’s about all the news he has for now, his loneliness being an old story. “Good night, my Darling. I do love you ever so much. You’re cute, and sweet, and lovable, and oh-so-nice, and I miss you like fury.”