Dart finally had a successful run of shopping, buying a sport shirt, a dress shirt, and another belt. He declares them all “real nice.”

Last night, he worked at his little desk until 5:00 AM, going to bed just as the sun was rising. Somehow he managed to wake up at the time he needed to without the use of an alarm clock. While he doesn’t trust himself to do that every day, it was nice to wake up naturally.

He finally got around to handing in a missing piece for prose workshop. It was a travel item about the island of Ulithi. If I recall correctly, that was the little place he visited a few times during the war – a dot in the Pacific used by the Navy for brief shore leaves. He had written a charming description of the place to Dot once, without naming it, of course. Anyway, he says the piece he handed in was not good, but it nearly brings him up to date on his missed assignments for that class.

There was something about Dot’s last letter that makes him miss her even more. “Things around here have not been too joyful recently, either. Mother’s just driving herself to the limit, yet neither nothing Pop or I try to do is what she wants, so nothing gets done. Pop can’t eat his own cooking and neither of us can plan meals. Oh, we’re making out alright, but but it’s a heavy strain on all of us.”

He hates to think of her crying so much that night she wrote about and wishes with everything in him that he could comfort her in person. He’s upset about the conditions around her home that she hinted at in her letter. “Those extremely tight family attachments sure make it tough when one feels like telling the family where to go, or when the beloved family hurts so much.”

“Don’t you know that one of the few things a husband’s good for is giving comfort to the wife when she’s feeling punk? There wasn’t anything to forgive you for in that letter, but if you want me to forgive you, I’ll do it anyway.”

The rest of this letter is so tender and intimate that I’ll not share details of it here. I hope Mom will go to her storage closet and retrieve the original letter from her file to read Dad’s words in his own hand. In case her memory has faded a bit, this letter will bring the power of Dart’s passion back in all it’s poetic splendor.

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As much as Dot likes to have a chance to write Dart a long letter, she’s not too keen about how the opportunity presented itself. She no sooner got off the bus at Cos Cob where she’s still working, then she had a “queer and uncomfortable feeling.” She went to Harriet’s house, which fortunately was quite nearby, and discovered her “country cousin had paid a belated visit.”

“Not wanting to be stranded in the middle of nowhere like the last rose of summer, I decided to come back to Greenwich with Harriet. It was a wise move, I guess, cuz’ I fainted shortly after I got upstairs. I feel much better now because I ‘slept’ through the worst part. Mom says the moving of furniture, the hot bath and the long walk yesterday didn’t help things any. Someday I’ll learn. You realize, of course, that this makes June 20 a red-letter day in more ways than one. I’d be scared to death if i were marrying any other person than you, Darling. You can’t imagine how very grateful I am for having such a thoughtful, understanding fiance’ – soon to be my husband. Oh happy day!”

A letter from Columbia arrived today, and her friend is very excited about her big trip way out to Greenwich. “Clum’s” excitement has stirred up even more excitement in Dot. If Dart expects her to keep him calm during those final days before the wedding, he’s got a big surprise coming!

She’s enclosing a photo of the bridesmaids’ dresses for  his mother’s perusal. Her own mother has acquired a beautiful dress from her Wellesley friend Bonnie Dunbar, and Aunt Florence made alterations last week. It’s a lovely coral which sets off her hair and eyes beautifully. Dot suspects that the mothers of the couple will steal the show, but “as long as I get legally ‘hitched’ to you, who cares?”

Dot just had a visit from the sweetest little girl in the world – her five-month-old niece Gretchen. She hopes the baby won’t lose all her cuteness by the time Dart meets her, but that’s not likely to happen, seeing as that cuteness is contained in 20 pounds of baby chubbiness. A 20-pound five-month-old? Wowzer!

With every day that passes, Dot is more grateful for her decision to quit the telephone company at the beginning of the strike. It’s been three weeks now and she knows of several girls who have had to quit to find other jobs. Vacations are nice, but not the unpaid, indefinite kind.

She doesn’t know what to say about a gift from  his folks. She thinks a phonograph would be nice, but too expensive. She has no idea what a toaster or a new chair would cost. Maybe prices will drop by mid-summer, but she doubts it.

Her father went to an auction last night and bought an antique walnut dresser. He thinks that’ll give him enough walnut to finish making her cedar chest that he started for Christmas. Walnut lumber has been unavailable, so this seemed like the best way to get the project done. He already used an old bed of Grandma’s to make Eleanor’s chest. Such a resourceful man!

It sounds like Dart’s railroad is really advancing, and she can’t wait to see it. She was visiting the model railroad of Betty & Gordon’s neighbor Mr. Cox and noticed his is 00 gauge. Isn’t that the same size as Homer’s tiny layout?

She still has some letters to answer, but she won’t do them tonight. She sure could use one of his comforting back rubs, though, to put her to sleep. How about a date for a back rub eight weeks from tomorrow night?