Here’s another brief letter from Dart to start the new year off right. He’s over the moon about receiving her 12-page letter, and he goes on for awhile about the praise her portrait is earning on the ward. He reports that he ended up not going to the Red Cross party because he was ill. The guys who went had slim praise for the thing, except they seemed happy with the single bottle of Coke they each received as refreshment.

He certainly understands why there was such long dry spell of letters from Dot. He asks her forgiveness and understanding in advance if he should ever come to a time when he cannot keep up the rigorous writing schedule of recent days. I wonder if he was thinking of pending illness, or were his thoughts more about the war?

Dot begins her letter with a report that she just heard a radio plea that everyone listening should resolve to write more letters to their service men. She has pledged to write him at least a note for as long as he wants her too, even during her upcoming exams.

She announces that her new career wil be taking care of kids. It seems that she’s been in such hot demand that she has nearly earned her train fare back to Ohio. She’ll be returning to school on Monday.

At this point in her plans she thinks she’ll be doing her work experience in Cleveland when her classes are over in April. She says she’ll be able to see more of her best friend who is going to college in Oberlin but I suspect the prospect of seeing a certain sailor may influence her decision.

She plans to see the movie comedy “Claudia” tomorrow night, but nothing can compare seeing “The Phantom of the Opera” with Dart. (Regardless of the plot, characters, sets, costumes or acting…)

Here’s a short and melancholy letter from Dart. He describes the beauty of nature under a very heavy frost, but adds that it would have been prettier if seen from the outside.

A new chief surgeon has decided to keep all the pilonidal cyst cases a while longer for observation. He is despondant that he’ll never get back to active duty. It has been a whopping 49 days since his surgery!

He’s homesick and discouraged, but ever sure of his love for Dot.

Dot’s letter today is also brief. Like Dart, she is in a weird state of mind. She wonders if this “puppy love” affair they are having will amount to anything, or will it go up in a puff of smoke someday. It  must be hard to maintain confidence of your true feelings and those of your beloved over the obstacles of months and miles, especially when the rlationship was so new when the two were separated.

She includes a poem she says she found that expresses her feelings. Hmmm…I wonder if she is the author?

Dart writes a regular letter today, and then a bonus.

He expresses surprise that he’s received a postcard from her, sent from Andrews School. He was unaware that she’d be returning to Willoughby so soon and is concerned because he’s mailed all his letters to Greenwich.

Referring to a recent mention she’d made about bowling, he asks Dot for a bowling date “some evening.” He enjoys the activity even though he claims his scores are pitiful. It sounds a little wistful when he tries to make a date, knowing that he has no idea when they might see each other again.

He thinks it’s nice that she’s earned some money babysitting and tells her about his paper route and lawn mowing jobs that earned him some “pin” money when he was home.  He then asked her how she liked “Claudia.” He had seen it as a play at the Cleveland Playhouse some time ago and had “nearly died laughing.” Like Dot, he has fond memories of see “The Phantom” too.

He asks her if she’s a little superstitious and admits to being a little so himself. He confesses that he has wished a couple of times on the first evening star. The wish he made in boot camp has already come true. Since the one he made last night also concerns the two of them, he hopes it comes true as well. Still, he won’t tell her what it is, hoping he hasn’t already “queered” it simply by mentioning it.

Apparently, all this talk of wishing on stars has made our young hero feel romantic and a little poetic. He talks about the beauty of the snow in the starlight and the sparkling crystals falling on a crisp, sunny day.

He lobbies a bit for her to work in Cleveland during her practicum so that she could get to know his folks. (Also, it would be easier to see her if the Navy ever grants him leave.) He mentions his youngest cousin who is attending Oberlin on a scholarship to study piano. (I remember meeting that cousin, Marg Peterson, a couple of times in my life. She lived an exotic life as a concert pianist, touring the world and settling down in St. Louis. )

He closed with a sappy little poem he’d memorized from somewhere. It’s the same sappy little poem that I memorized as a young child when I found it framed on the dresser of a rustic lake cottage in New Hampshire.

He adds another two-page letter, mostly writing that he didn’t have much to write. He did tell a storry about a Catholic priest visiting the ward that day and finding a group of guys gambling via a game of pinochle. The gist of the letter is that he wanted to show Dot that he likes writing to her and thinks about her all time.

Dot’s letter is pretty funny. It seems she is trying to cement the meaning of vocabulary words into her brain before exams by cramming as many as possible into a single paragraph! Words like clandestine, sanguine, truculent, cabal, flaccid and dictatorial are peppered throughout.  What a saucy little show-off! She notes later in the letter that she got a 100% on that test.

She chastises him for claiming to be the author of that crazy, nonsensical letter he wrote her in Connecticut. She has evidently learned it was plagiarized!

Finally! At long last!! Just when we had abandoned all hope of ever knowing, she relieves Dart’s curiosity by revealing the meaning of B.B.S.O.C.Y.K. (Check it out for yourself.)

She slips into gossip column mode as she writes about her roommate’s ex beau trying his darnedest to win back his lady love. Then, she questions Dart’s use of “Dorothy” in a recent letter. “Maybe you thought it wouldn’t be noticed, but in your letters, everything is noticed.” Very cute.

She claims to feel a little insecure about all the Waves he mentions, but this is not the letter of an insecure young girl. She’s full of vinegar today.

She has a funny paragraph about this letter having not much to say, but it has taken a lot of space and time to say it, nonetheless.  She reminds him that her excuse for not writing  very often is legit – she’s preparing for exams.

When reading the attached letter read the right column of the second page before reading the left column. I’m not sure why she does that, but it’s Dot’s usual practice.

What a fabulous letter from Dart. It is an impassioned, reasoned response to Dot’s “wondering” letter of a few days ago. Wondering if what they feel is real. Wondering if it will last. Dart is so thoughtful and articulate. When de describes what he feels for her and how that compares to his feelings in previous “relationships,” I think he is speaking a universal language.  Anyone who has ever thought they were in love and then really was in love will recognize what he writes.

Dot’s letter begins with a humorous riff on her boring classes. She’s really quite the wit. Her second letter of the day is in response to the two she received from Dart in today’s mail. I had to smile at her lengthy description of Doug in answer to Dart’s inquiry. She talks about his appearance, the fact that she took him to the movies because that was her payment for losing a bet. She admits he was her “one and only” until Dart came along. She says she’s known him for quite some time and she reveals that he spends a lot of time at her house. She never actually says that Doug is her younger brother. What a little imp she is!

She tells him a little about the English sailors she helped her sister entertain and she mentioned how much she enjoyed the home cooked meals. She down plays her culinary skills, saying that “anyone can make fudge.” She confesses that she may have made her trip to the dentist sound a bit worse than it really was. And she admits that she was the writer of the poem she had included in a recent letter.

She “accepted” Dart’s suggestion for a bowling date and she wrote about how much she enjoyed the movie “Claudia.”  She wrote that the film “struck me as not only a side-splitting comedy but also as something with a lot of sense in it. The character reminded Dot of a girl she knows – one that Dart might know as well. (Dot herself?)

She agrees with Dart that some superstitions are agreeable to her and mentions two recent “wish-bone” incidents when she “won” the biggest piece.  She talks about her enjoyment of classical music (as well as jazz and swing) and then begs his forgiveness and closes the letter at 12:30 a.m.

Here’s a quick word on Dot’s behalf. I suspect that as she reads these letters all these decades after writing them, she might be a little embarrassed by some of the spelling and punctuation errors. Let me assure you that she could go through them now with a red pen and catch every single mistake or “typo.” She has a bright mind and excellent writing skills that certainly matured from her 17-year-old version.  Sometimes I think her mind is firing so quickly as she writes these letters, that her pen simply gets ahead of her eyes.