It was a beautiful day in Cleveland, made even more so by the arrival of Dot’s nice letter from Monday, complete with a big kiss inside the envelope.
It’s 4:00 AM, but Dart still has schoolwork to do. He acknowledges that his typing looks like he could use some sleep, but he feels like working a little longer.
He’s quite certain he flunked a Spanish test today. “I’ll insult the guy you picked to marry by calling him a lazy, stupid bum. I hope you don’t eventually come to the same conclusion.”
He fears his late night typing wakes up the other people in his house, even though they won’t admit it.
No time now to answer her letter; he has a bug to do a little prose workshop homework.
# # #
Dot’s letter today begins in an unfamiliar handwriting. Turns out, Dot asked Nancy to entertain Dart while she finished setting her hair. Nancy chats on for a couple of pages about her job as a nurse and how excited Dot’s getting about that big day in June. She reminds Dart that she hopes to fly out to Ohio in September for a visit with the newlyweds.
Then Dot takes over at the very bottom of page two. There she writes that she’ll have to continue on page three, but doesn’t want to wait that long to tell Dart how much she loves him. So she tells him how much she loves him before turning the page.
She hadn’t thought much about a gift for Eleanor and Norm, but when she asked El, her sister said that since they’ll be living at first in the Chamberlain home, they don’t need much, nor do they want to store a lot of things. She suggested cash was the most practical idea. Dot assures Dart that El is completely aware of their tight finances, so any cash gift, no matter how small, would be appreciated and appropriate.
To be frank, she’d given no thought at all to dishes. She opposes ornate patterns and thinks any simple pattern would work well with their flatware.
Has Dart thought any more about his gifts for his ushers? Norman is giving his guys monogrammed tie clips. If Dart wanted to do the same for his ushers, Norman would give him a discount from his shop.
Dot has been busy today. Before work, she cleaned the kitchen. This evening she cleaned her room, bathed and washed her hair. “Boy to I feel pure! My cleanliness is exceeded only by my striking beauty.”
“This job of mine sure takes me to some gruesome holes in the wall. Some of the places make me sick, they’re so filthy. On the other hand, I see some very cute, neat little houses I fall in love with. I bet I walked 10 miles today. No wonder I’m so tired!”