Here’s a newsy letter telling about Dart’s activities during his final days of boot camp.  He’s been on light duty since being discharged from the hospital, excusing him from drills and calisthenics. Instead, he and a few others from his company have been practically rebuilding the barracks. They’ve removed the baseboards, sanded and varnished them, repaired some doors, washed windows and a slew of other paltry tasks. (“Light duty,” Navy-style!)

Today, while two 5,000-man regiments were inspected on the drill fields, Dart’s small band of men were undergoing barracks inspection. They were the only company in 32 who received perfect scores in two categories. With pride, he writes, “We’re expecting to see a couple of rooster flags flying from our staff Monday morning.”

Dart’s group will probably not have a formal graduation ceremony, but all that matters to him is that his leave is set. It begins at 0800 on June 28 and runs through July 11. He begins to imagine a scenario where he might be able to get up to see her, if only for a day. Then he realizes he’s selling the idea to the wrong person, since Dot is already in complete agreement with any plan that would put them in the same place. He knows he needs to sell his folks on the idea, but he won’t even guess the outcome of that conversation. You can read his frustration and worry in the words he writes. He’s so desperate to see her, but fears that dream will go the way of others he’s had in recent memory.

He still has not received any forwarded letters from Dot describing her birthday festivities or gifts. He’s curious about the Friday night surprise and, probably about her reaction to his gift.

Tonight, he loafs, but tomorrow is another full day, including washing all his clothes and linens.

Can a letter be both wistful and cheerful? I think Dot proves that it can. She imagines him reading this letter in his own bedroom at home. She gets tearful when she imagines the reunion with a son and his parents. How she wants to be part of that celebration! She remembers how wonderful Christmas at the Chamberlain house was because Gordon was home before being shipped out.

Remarking that not only does absence make the heart grow fonder, but it also makes one realize there’s no place like home, she tells of her friend Cynthia who is home briefly from her school, Oberlin. The girl is thrilled to be back on a brief break before returning to Ohio for summer classes. Dot comments, “She’s a wonderful girl. I wish you could have met her (and about a half million other people). If your curiosity gets the better of you and you can’t bear to let these people remain unknown, come East. I promise to introduce you to everyone.”

She issues an order that he have a perfect leave. She requests that he have a double good time because she will be with him mentally. To keep him from feeling tied down, she grants him a 10-day recess from writing letters.

“Give my love to your family, but keep plenty for yourself,” she writes. Will he take her up on the offer not to write? Will his leave live up to expectations? Is there a chance he’ll be able to make the long trip to Greenwich to lay eyes on his beloved?

We have no choice but to let the story unfold.

Dart is counting down the days (a mere two) before his leave commences. There are threats of severe vengeance circulating through his company – vengeance against any poor sucker who curses too loudly, whistles at the wrong female, or in any way gets into sufficient trouble to delay leave for the remaining company.

Dart tells about his phone call home today, to discuss details of his arrival with his folks. When he asked his brother Burke about his lucrative summer job, all Burke could say was that it was hot. He must monitor the gauges on 14 furnaces in some factory somewhere in Cleveland. He did accept Dart’s helpful suggestion that “Hotter than the hinges in Hades” might be a more colorful description.

After church service today, Dart did all of his laundry, except the clothes on his back and his dungarees, “which I don’t intend to wear until they can stand up my themselves and crawl out of the sea bag when I whistle.”

Here’s a chipper note from Dot. She says to this soon-to-be-graduated sailor, “If you aren’t in the best of spirits and having a wonderful time – well, you better get in the groove.”

She talks about her family’s summer cottage on Lake Sunapee, NH. Until 1941, she had been there every summer of her life, beginning at age two months. Then gas rationing started, preventing the family from making the trip. Dot writes that her parents are going up next week for July 4th, and she wishes she were going with them. Now, it’s her job that prevents her from making the trip. She says that getting up to Lake Sunapee is yet another reason she wants this war to end.

That humble little summer place is still in the Chamberlain family, providing the glue that keeps our family close into the sixth generation. Mom still makes her yearly pilgrimage to recharge her batteries and commune with the spirits of those who have loved the place as much as she does.

She writes that she is going nuts, thinking of him being so much closer to Greenwich soon, without it doing her much good.

Dart dashed off this hurried note on his way to a farewell party in the mess. He was looking forward to bidding adieu to this “unholy, unwholesome hole.”

He’d finally received a letter from Tom Riley, a V-12 buddy at Case, but there was no real news in it.

He informs her that he’ll be Peterson, S 2/c after tomorrow. (I’m assuming that’s Seaman, second class. That’s all there is for today.

Dot and Dart were on the same wavelength today. Both of them wrote in pencil. Dot has a slow day at work, so she’s using her time to write to Dart.

Knowing that Dart will be reading this letter in Cleveland, she asks if he has gotten in touch with any of his former roommates from Case yet. When he does, she reminds him to be sure and thank Johnny Rusch for passing Dot’s message to Dart that day several months ago – the message that she really liked to get mail. It seems to be responsible for what came after for these two young lovers. Speaking of mail reminded Dot that there is a certain male she’d like to receive at her home next Sunday!

It’s nearly time to close up shop now. Dot needs to cover her merchandise with curtains before she heads home. She writes that the job is getting better all the time. Now she has a half day off each week and the store closes at 4:00 on Saturdays.

She tells him that a co-worker who reads palms as a hobby gave her a reading this week. “She told me all about my shortcomings and I thought she’d never finish. The trouble is, everything she said about me sounds just like me. Thank goodness you were not around to hear it!”

She said she’d try to write more from home later in the day, and she managed to find the time in another letter. She writes that El offered to write to Dart with a warm invitation to come to Greenwich. Dot thought that an additional invitation from an unbiased source might add weight to the idea, so El is writing him tonight.

She says she knows how her family would feel if Gordon finally got leave after months of being away, and spent a few days of it away from home. They may not say anything, but they wouldn’t be happy. The last thing she wants is to give his parents a reason not to like her, so she doesn’t want to risk it by his coming out. Still… “I guess I’d better not hope for too much. We’ve got plenty of time for such things (It says here.)”

She’s having difficulty expressing all of her thoughts on the subject of a visit. She doesn’t want to discourage him if he has the slightest inclination. It would be wonderful to introduce him to everyone and to see him herself. However, there is the chance that he will discover he doesn’t really like her very much, and she’d hate for that to be the outcome. (Do you believe this girl?)

Her family was discussing the GOP convention this evening, and she asked her father why he didn’t run for President. He replied, “I’d have about as much chance as a snow ball being chased by an asbestos cat through the hottest streets of Hades.”

She says her parents have abandoned plans for their trip to New Hampshire this weekend because Don’s parents are coming to visit. (And you, I hope, she adds, helpfully.)

In case he needs a recommendation about the Chamberlain hospitality, she offers her own. She thinks it’s nice. Perhaps the beds are a bit too hard, but she hears the Navy has given up their box springs lately, as well. If she has not convinced him to visit, she deems herself a failure in life. “PLEASE COME, DART,” she pleads.

With Dart traveling back to Cleveland today, Dot is the only one who is able to get a letter written. Having heard nothing from Dart for a couple of days, she can only assume he’s enjoying a long-awaited evening at home.

She’s looking forward to just a half day at Franklin Simons tomorrow. Then she realizes that she’ll fill the other half of the day with cleaning and ironing at home!  She tells Dart he has her sympathy, having to wash all of his clothes by hand. Her mother washes the family laundry in the machine, but Dot has to iron everything. She feels dreadfully overworked. “To hear Dad talk, you’d think I went swimming all day when the truth of the matter is, I haven’t been once this whole year! I have a hard life!”

She concludes by writing, “This letter isn’t very long, but congratulate me; I haven’t said one thing about how you should spend your leave. I’ve got my ideas, tho’. I s’pose they’re the kind that materialize only in movies.”

Dart is writing from his very own bedroom in Cleveland. After a hot, dirty but uneventful train trip, he arrived in town around 7:30 PM. It’s now 1:30 AM and his family has gone to bed.

He has five letters before him – four from Dot and one from El. He says they all have pretty much the same theme, and one that he whole-heartedly supports. Although the question of a side trip to Greenwich has not been thoroughly discussed, his parents suspected it would be raised and are “are rather in favor of it.” He corrects that last statement and says, “They like you well enough that they don’t seem to be at all put out or disheartened by my desire to visit you.” He’s very hopeful that the question will be settled tomorrow.

I think it’s sweet that a 20-year old man, eager to see his sweetheart for what may be the only time for months or years, is so respectful of his parents’ wishes. It’s quite revealing about his character. I hope he’s rewarded for his respect and compassion.

He reports that home is pretty much the way it was when he left, except for some much-needed sprucing up of the living room. In his bedroom, he is surrounded by all of his engine posters, railroad magazines, familiar books and sundry junk.

Tomorrow he plans to head over to the Case campus and see some of the guys. “You may be sure that I’ll thank Rousch for giving me your message that night. I’ve been mentally thanking him for eight months. I don’t think he knew what he was getting us into, nor did we, but boy! Am I glad!”

He mentions that two sets of aunts and uncles will be spending July 4 and 5 in Cleveland to see him. It seems to me that his 14-day leave is looking rather short, with all he hopes to cram into it.

He asks Dot about the palm reading she’d mentioned. “Anything that concerns or could concern us?”

He daydreams a little about which train he might take to maximize his time with Dot, if his parents agree to the trip. Then, he gleefully remembers that no one will yell “Hit the deck!” at 0500 tomorrow. Still he needs to get some sleep if he doesn’t want to snooze through his first full day at home.

Here’s a happy little note from Dot. Her first half day of work turned out better than she’d anticipated. When she arrived back home around noon, her mother suggested she pack a bag and head for the beach. Dot, her mother, and little brother Doug took their first dip of the season. “After we chipped off the first few chunks of ice, it wasn’t bad at all,” she quips. “I even managed a little dive, but we won’t discuss that further if it’s all the same to you.”

She asked him about the farewell party at Great Lakes, joking that it was, no doubt a sad and sullen affair. She only hopes he didn’t get sick from the abundance of snacks.

She asked about Tom Reilly, one of Dart’s roommates that she never met. “As I remember, he had a secretary named Peterson who used to write his letters for him.” What’s this? Was Dart involved in a little Cyrano de Bergerac action between Tom Reilly and a lady?

She discreetly inserted just one teensy mention of his weekend plans, hoping they might include her.