In the spirit of total honesty, I must confess that parts of this letter made my eyes cross and my head spin. Dart spent more than 4 out of  8 pages discussing the various merits of one shade of green paint over another, culminating in a carefully drawn table indicating his preferences in color, location, and degree of luster for each of nine different shades, listed by the color code of the manufacturer. To top it off, he suggests that Dot make a similar chart without consulting his to see how closely matched their preferences are. Yikes! I think we’ve covered that topic sufficiently, so let’s take a look at the rest of the letter.

For reasons he can’t quite name, the two letters he received from Dot today are his favorite in a long time. He’ll try to answer them later on in this letter.

The weather is windy and cold again, making him wish they were spending it together cuddled up under a big fluffy blanket. He’s feeling especially amorous tonight, and he’s sorry they live so gosh darned far apart.

I surmise that Dot was writing about bicycles and picnics recent;y. Although he hasn’t seen his bike in years, he knows just where it is. He has a small luggage rack on the rear that would work to hold a picnic basket. He knows his bike will need new tires, but it shouldn’t take much to make it usable again.

“You sure have us pegged, Dot. I mean our family. That habit of talking and not doing is one I want to get rid of. I know it annoys you, and it also annoys me when other people do it, so I need to stop doing it.”

Yes, he thinks her idea of buying furniture at auctions might work. There are a lot of people around Cleveland who have the same idea, but he and Dot might try their luck at that form of shopping.

He also agrees that they had some nice nights at Lake Sunapee last September. Except for some seasick nights aboard the Haggard, he’s never slept out in the open, but he likes her idea of sleeping on the porch when they’re at the cottage. “I hope we’ll be able to sleep together (Well, you know what I really mean) most any place we choose while we’re there. I think we will, if we’re in the mood that often, or that continually.”

He theorizes that the purpose of a honeymoon is so that a couple can get the experience and novelty of sex out of the way in private before they have to be doing in with other people near by.

Although he feels like writing about sex tonight, he must go to bed in order to get up for church in five hours. How he wishes they could go to bed together and caress each other. Would she prefer her back rub before or after?

Dart has been tapped to usher at the early service next week. Today, there were 414 people at the service and ushers had to put out folding chairs in all the available spaces. Apparently, Mr. Kerchner has more admirers than just Dart.

A call to Al Forbush today brought the news that he’s not had a date with Phyll since last fall. He was surprised to learn from Dart that she is no longer at Kent State.

Now Dart wishes he hadn’t mentioned that he’d been hoping to surprise Dot in Greenwich this week. “Now, even though I said I couldn’t come, you’ll be expecting me, and honey, we just can’t afford it.”

No, Edie didn’t moon over Burke, nor he over her. She finally found somebody she won’t have to wait so long for. Looks like young love was fleeting between Burke and Edie.

He thinks the idea of a train getaway for their reception has possibilities. Would they be able to pack all their gifts on a train? How would they get from the church to the reception at the Chamberlain house, and from the house to the station? He seems to be nervous that if they leave their extra luggage at the house, some joker will play tricks with it. My, he’s a mighty suspicious young man! He’s not opposed to the train idea, but he wants the mechanics worked out ahead of time. Are El and Norman considering the same thing?

Because of his recent bout with the flu, Dot might hardly recognize him because he’s back down to 165 pounds. He’s not happy about that, but at least his old suit fits him again.

He has a deep fear that if they’d been able to see each other during his spring vacation, they would not have been able to put the brakes on showing each other how much they missed each other. Sometimes he feels terrible about how far they’ve gone already, but when he’s not feeling terrible, he’s happy they have made those memories. He recalls a couple of times at Sunapee and in Cleveland when he was so overcome that he nearly crossed a line they could never have uncrossed. “It’s so easy for the one-ness of passion we had on the davenport to turn into heel-ism on my part and revulsion on your part. That night bothers me because I didn’t think I had such indefensible traits in my makeup, but I don’t worry about it because we made good progress in learning to settle our differences. I was disappointed in myself those nights, though.”

It’s 3:05 AM and although he wants to write some more, he’s hungry and sleepy,  so he will save further discussion for another letter. “Good night, my Sweetheart, from your only, lonely, deeply-in-love fiance.”

Before writing this letter, Dart took an hour to get his “financial affairs in order,” and he’s pleased to present his future bride with the report: Including their savings account, checking account, penny account and cash-on-hand, they have a grand total, available for use this very day of $392.87! He seems very pleased with that amount.

The church fundraising goal was $6000 by this week. In spite of last weekend’s storm which kept attendance down, their total today was $5700. Dart intends to reduce the $300 deficit with his $25 donation.

On his first day of spring vacation, Dart helped his dad vacuum and dust the living room and the dining room. Then he spent some time browsing at the library.

A call from one of the Skywriter staff resulted in a plan for Dart and two others to treat Rand to a dinner out on Friday as a way of thanking him for his gracious hospitality.

Oh, how he wishes he could be spending this week with her! To his way of thinking, vacations are meant for loafing, but he has so much school work to do, and the apartment needs a thorough cleaning, so he must budget his time wisely. He readily agrees that time management is not his strong suit. He emphatically says that he’ll be ready for his summer vacation when it finally gets here!

Yes, he expects to leave Cleveland seven or eight days before the wedding, which should leave time for blood tests and applying for the marriage license. His parents and Burke will get there the day before the wedding unless Burke decides to drive out with Tom and arrive there a day or so earlier. No, he doesn’t yet know who will be the other usher. He’s waiting to see what happens with either Homer or Hal. The first one of those to officially accept wins the title. If neither of them can make it, he’ll come up with someone else. Is there a reason she needs to know sooner?

What follows in Dart’s letter is a long dissertation about the state of Dot’s menstrual cycle. Is there reason for concern that this one is hanging around longer than usual? Aren’t her worst cramps generally just on the first day? Is he right in calculating that her “visitor” usually comes every five or six weeks? Yes, he remembers the night of the Pops concert when she was suddenly incapacitated. He was terrified that she would pass out from pain while they were on the streetcar and he wouldn’t know what to do. He’s glad that his desire to help her during these trying times makes her trust him more. All he knows is that when she’s in such distress, he would do anything to alleviate her suffering. That leads him to suspect he might be the one to spoil their children. He’s eager to get a few months of experience under his belt so that he’ll be better at knowing what to do for her.

He’s trying to get a full time job at the Plain Dealer for the month of July. They could certainly use the money when they get back from their honeymoon to fix up their little living quarters.

The first thing he wants to do when he gets to Greenwich is buy her return train ticket to Cleveland. That way, no matter what unexpected expenses they may face, at least he’ll know he’ll be returning home with a wife!

In church this week, he ran into a female classmate of his from Shaw. She was there with her two children and he’s pleased to report that she looked younger and less run down than another classmate he saw last week who was unmarried and childless. He attributes the “worn down” look of the latter to three broken engagements.

His mind has drifted a bit as he writes this, dreaming of the time in the future when they can cuddle and caress to their hearts’ content. Does she recall the night when they were at the dining table with his folks and were touching each other inappropriately under that same table? He’s a little shocked that they dared to live so dangerously!

Dot, Darling, I miss you very much tonight. I miss you in a way that’s both spiritual and physical, although the spiritual may not show in this letter. I wish we could undress each other piece by piece, until not a single thing remained between us to prevent a complete, perfect union to make us really man and wife.” With a great degree of tenderness, he confides that he hopes the timing of their honeymoon will allow them to consummate their love without contraception so that they can be as close as any two people ever were. “But I confess, I love you so much that I’d take you any way, any time you want me, my Darling.