Finally! A brief word from Dart. He offers no explanation for several days without writing, but he sure was happy to receive four letters from Dot over the past two days.

He’s heard from Fred who’s in Hawaii but unattached to a permanent unit.

Dart went out on a disappointing liberty last night with the guys from his class. He sounds rather sour about it, saying it wasn’t worth the 10 cent car fare or the 70 cents for a lousy spaghetti dinner. He’s decided he’d have more fun alone, seeking out a railroad and better places to eat.

He was hoping to write a longer letter tonight, but after dinner, his group learned they had to wash their hammocks before inspection tomorrow morning, so his time was spent scrubbing it clean.

Because his sore throat persists, he has been ordered to see the doctor and is forbidden to swim for at least 10 days, just as he felt like he was getting the hang of it.

He has to write home to his folks, so he signs off.

Here’s an even briefer letter from Dot, referencing a postcard she recently received from Dart. She says she’d rather have a card than nothing at all.

Mrs. Miller has offered her a job for the fall and winter. It would require that she live at the Miller’s home and be available to help fix dinner and watch the kids when the parents are out. Her dad advises against it because he thinks she’d feel too tied down. Dot is leaning toward accepting it because she needs the money.

Her mother has written that the canoe at the cottage is in good repair and offers great entertainment and exercise. Dot plans to make good use of it during her Labor Day visit, but wishes Dart could be with her so she could teach him how to operate a canoe.

She winds up the letter by saying “Though this letter ends on page one, my love for you will never end.”

Dart starts his letter in an impish mood. He writes the first paragraph in a kind of Russian or Eastern European accent, thanking her for the letters and the package. The sewing kit she sent was exactly what he wanted. He thinks she’ll be able to fatten him up with all the candy she sends, which is much better than what he can find on Treasure Island.

He claims that the news about his grades is not so good, but he doesn’t go into much detail. He agrees to comply with her request and talk shop less frequently. He’ll only mention whether his progress is satisfactory or “otherwise.”

How happy he is that she likes his portrait so much! “I was, by the way, wearing my best (and only) set of teeth and my best toupee. Maybe that explains the Cheshire Cat grin.”

He writes a paragraph about the infrequent exchange of letters between him and his family. Burke is starting his senior year at Shaw High School and Dart sounds like the old man, reminiscing about how recently  he and his brother were playing with toy soldiers and acting out Buck Rogers in their wagons.

Before signing off for bed, he agrees that this has been a wonderful 11 months for him, as well. He loves her so much and her letter today made him very, very happy. “Now it’s my turn to thank you for the ‘purdy’ things you say.”

Dot’s only offering today is a rushed little post card. No news, babysitting, off to work, can’t wait to get o Sunapee on Saturday, wishes Dart could come.

Dart writes a newsy letter in response to several he’s received from Dot. He has no sage advice for her regarding the job offer from Mrs. Miller. He says it’s strictly her decision, but if she takes it, he hopes the Millers will spend their time at home if he ever gets back to Greenwich. “I probably won’t ever get there during the war, but if I manage to survive, I’ll most surely come there, especially if we still love each other so much.”

He would like to get to New Hampshire someday so he can learn to use that canoe. He can’t imagine a more charming instructor that Dottie herself.

A detailed description of last weekend’s liberty followed. He and Leffman went into ‘Frisco. They bought tickets for a show later that evening and then went over to Oakland to see that city  in the daylight. Let’s just say his opinion of the town was not improved after his second impression.

Before going to the show, Dart got an invitation to a dinner at the home of one of the girls from that party a few weeks ago. He went, and later rejoined Leffman for the variety show.

He returned to the barracks for the night and headed back into San Francisco on Sunday afternoon with three friends. They went to Golden Gate Park to soak up some welcomed sunshine. While there, they decided to rent some bikes which they rode for a couple of hours. All those hills lead to some pretty achy muscles the next day. The bike ride also gave Dart’s back (surgical scar) the most serious workout it has had for months.

They took a trolley to the Pacific and back to Market Street for supper. While they were standing on the corner waiting for an interurban car to take them out to San Mateo, they decided to play their Tonettes and “sweet potatoes” to pass the time. Just before the car came, a man crossed the street to tell them he’d enjoyed listening to them play. “I play a little guitar myself,” he said. “Why not come over to my house and we can jam for a bit.” Forsaking San Mateo, they went with the man. “Imagine a quartet of those queer little whistles accompanied by a guitar,” he writes. Thanks, I think I’d rather not.

He tells about the four of them standing on the open platform of the train, playing some more lively tunes while the conductor lady jitterbugged in the aisle. I’m ashamed to see that he used a racially charged obscenity in this story, so completely unlike the father I knew. But I guess we’ve covered that ground before. It’s simply proof that people can mature and improve with age and sensitivity.

Temperatures that day rose to a season record high of 83 in ‘Frisco and 89 in Oakland. Treasure Island remains cooler.

A few brief lines is all Dot can manage, with her job and preparing meals for her dad.

She’s eager to get to the lake, even though her mother says the winds are so fierce they may blow her over. Dot has decided to try to get some fishing in while there, hoping to break her four -foot record catch. Then she adds, “Don’t be taken in my by fish story.”

She tells Dart not to work too hard, that she hopes his sore throat is completely gone and that she loves him.

Dart was happy to get another letter from Dot today, as well as a letter from her mother, written at Sunapee. The more he hears about the Chamberlain’s summer place, the more eager he is to see it.

He asks Dot if she has ever been in an airplane. (I suspect that in 1944, there were a fair number of 18-year olds who had never flown.) A couple of the guys in his class have their commercial pilot license and Dart has been chewing the fat with them about what it’s like to fly. Speaking of planes, he did very poorly on his recognition test this week. He may be ordered to go to night school to catch up on the material. “So there go your illusions of genius. Don’t forget that I flunked out of Case. That doesn’t seem much like the work of a master mind either, does it?”

Once again he mentions that Burke will be starting his senior year at Shaw High School soon and that his girlfriend has moved back into the city to finish at Shaw. He hopes that means Burke will spend more time closer to home on Sunday afternoons. His parents get bored and lonely on the weekends because they can’t really get far from their apartment. Dart Sr. uses all their gas rations to get to and from work and running errands for his brother Guy.

A little background on Dart Sr. and Guy. Dart was the younger of two sons and Guy was the highly favored child. In fact, the stories I’ve heard of the way Dart Sr. was treated by his mother seem to come straight from a Dickens story. Although my grandfather was a very smart man who loved learning, only Guy went to college. In fact, he graduated medical school while Dart was forced to forego schooling altogether. As adults, Guy treated Dart like a hired hand – there were times when he actually paid Dart to do menial labor for him. Dart Jr. writes in this letter that Guy and both of his daughters each had their own car, but these well-to-do relatives thought nothing of forcing Dart and Helen to use their own gas rations to do their bidding. No wonder Dart sounds a little bitter about it.

There’s a brief paragraph about how strange it is to run into high school chums who are married, engaged, or parents already. Considering Dart is only two years out of high school, I can see how that would be a bit shocking.

Dot is counting down the hours until she is at her beloved Lake Sunapee for the first time in three years. It was four years ago that her parents dropped her off at the train in Albany while on their way home from the lake. That train took her to Cleveland and her destiny. She is grateful she took that trip, or “I would never have met you and my life would have been wasted.” On second thought, she prefers to think they would have found each other some other way.

El is also excited about the upcoming weekend. Don has a week long furlough and they will spend several days of it in Providence, RI with his parents.

Dot writes that tomorrow is her parent’s 29th wedding anniversary and she thinks they’ve pretty much decided to stick it out for another few years. Sadly, Dot was too accurate with the term “few years.” Arthur Chamberlain would live only about five more years, dying far too young of pneumonia following a heart attack.

Dot is now the only sales clerk left in her department. Even though the staff keeps leaving, the merchandise continues to arrive. Today, Dot was “buried alive” in a shipment of sweaters that she had to check in, unpack and place on display. She thinks she must be a little nuts, but she has loads fun doing all that retail work. Of course, our Dot seems to have fun with almost everything she does.

Before closing, she poses a question for Dart. “By the way, your letters seem different lately. Is it just that you’re terribly busy, or is something else the matter?” She urges him not to write if there is something else he should be doing.