Description
XVI Monday 9 October 9:15 pm Hello, sweetie - Have just addressed to you a sample of 15 Christmas cards which perhaps will do for us - I mention it because it may be overweight for airmail and not reach you, though I suppose it would get back to me eventually for more postage. At any rate, I'm sending the package of cards first class and they should reach you in 2-3 weeks at least. Will you put the date on your letters along with the day of the week? #17 says “Monday” but I'm sure it must have been written Thursday. I usually throw the envelope away after making sure nothing's written on the back, so I can't check it. Darling, I got the package of books today. Was I supposed to save it for my birthday? I couldn't resist opening it and was delighted with your selection - wouldn't have thought of any of them. I'll mail them back to you as I read them. Incidentally, I'll mention it anytime I send a package, so let me know if you don't receive it after a reasonable interlude. - Let's see - you mailed the books Sept. 26th, a Tuesday; that makes it just under two weeks. Already I’d had my birthday due, darling, and this was an extra dividend. When Christmas things come I won't open them but will save them and have them when you have yours - we'll calculate the time in advance. I'm so afraid your Christmas from me will be all too meager. There'll be a few things, but so much less than I’d wish. Really, sweetie, I’d rather you have the presents this year - it seems so much more appropriate, and I'll love picturing you opening things - and it looks as though it'll be mostly the other way around. Shopping here is difficult and I haven't enough of either time or money. Brought Doug a cigarette lighter like yours today (do you still have it? If not, write me and I'll see if I [pg 2] can get you one) and will get some small thing for Jean. OK. A trinket for Marcia if possible. Do you think you can take care of Muz and Mother and Father for both of us? Don't spend a lot of money on me, darling, please. And don't pay any attention to my recent request for books til a good while after Christmas. I'll have enough to keep me busy for some time. Enjoyed the letter from Hy, which I'll answer by postcard. Funny, a current roommate of mine ran across him on Saipan a few weeks ago. Honey, I'm so sorry you've received no letters from me very recently. Somebody has remarked that periods of a few days or a couple of weeks (God forbid!) without mail have them one small merit, that they make you read and reread every past letter till you know everything in it. I love learning all the little details about Wendy (I'm reading back through your letters), knowing her well enough to be able to visualize everything including the expressions on her face, indicative as they are of growing intelligence…I miss watching her in the flesh very much, but your writing about it helps a great deal. Apropos of Wendy's finally getting some sun a week or so ago - the sun here is the most curious phenomenon! Our [?] is red for two or three days, and it goes away with very little tanning. Ordinarily I’d be much darker from the several times I've been exposed to it for an hour or more. It's frequently commented on here and apparently a characteristic of the semi-tropics. Ran across a Boulder boy today - Jack Leaf, fair-haired and a little effeminate; was in my class - who is being sent back to the States because a special allergy to tropical diseases! But [pg 3] I supposed I shouldn't tell you such things - it's very unusual. Awfully glad you finally got crib and carriage. Keep dreaming dreams of me like the one that you thought would leave you in fine shape if repeated at regular intervals! Henry has just written to Fran* (“…Things here have gone on in the usual way, only more so. My job has, off and on, been most interesting and extremely busy and I have learned very much in it. I am fed to the teeth though with this fair isle, and, believe it or not, would settle at the moment - fool that I am - for an experience like yours. There is something about BOQ breakfasts and the old familiar faces on the Hill that sets gypsy hearts astir, etc. Stomachs, too…”) Henry is [f?ling] sour tonight, and is [?]. We went in town last night to have dinner at a Chinese restaurant, quite a sumptuous place. (I got a copy of the menu to send you). Tomorrow is his day off and my first real chance to go shopping - will just go in town for the day. Glad you seem to know how to handle Bev C. She's having her own troubles keeping up morale, I guess. My best to her and to the Nettletons. Don't worry about my working too hard, darling. I won't. Honestly, I know how not to much better than I used to. Keep on quoting from last year, it's fun to recall. And do bake things for me - of course I like it. Good night, darling - I love you very much. Warren *Lt (jg) Francis B. Mahoney Navy #3257 FPO San Francisco
