September 18, 1943

Saturday afternoon

Hi,

Please excuse me if I don’t write to you every day. For one thing there is very little to tell you about, and for another I don’t think the mail is being sent out regularly.
We don’t do much now but sit around + read or talk or play poker or solitaire. It’s probably a good thing I never learned to play poker. On the train coming here Titus won $300 one day + then the next thing I knew Durno had collected $400. Of course they don’t all play that way- only majors + colonels can afford to. I spent several hours in a game of hearts (no money) but otherwise I have confined myself to solitaire.
There’s a fellow from Baltimore here who knows Mr. Batson. He isn’t sure, but he thinks he has met “Batsy”. What in the world is Batsy’s first name?
I see by the paper that you are having right snappy weather there, too. We have the stove going now + it is very welcome in the morning. This is certainly a gorgeous day, as most days have been since we hit the East.
Last night we went to the movies and saw the “Phantom of the Opera”. It has gorgeous technicolor and very nice music in it. And I don’t think it is as creepy as the old Lon Chaney version. Tonight we will probably see the “Fallen Sparrow”.

(Later)


We did. It’s not a bad picture.
The boys here at this post all act as if they were going to a football game. I never heard so much whooping + hollering as there was around here this evening. It’s wonderful.
I’d like to know how much vanilla ice cream disappears here in day. In the evening the PX’s, of which there are many, sell it, by the pint, as fast as they can pass it over the counter + drop the 20 cents in the cash register. A gallon must last about two minutes in one PX. It’s no wonder civilians can’t get it.
That’s about all I can think of to tell you except that I don’t enjoy this incarceration a bit. I don’t enjoy being separated from you at all, but being so close without being able to see you is tantalizing. Someday I am going to come home + stay a long time. I’m mighty near to being homesick here, which I never was in Texas. Distance lends enchantment only up to a certain number of miles, apparently. Home is far more enchanting when it is within visiting distance. However, I can imagine that from the other side of an ocean, it might very likely be doubly enticing.

Sunday morning

The guy that invented the “SERVA carton” for cold cereal ought to be given the Legion of Merit or something. They use those damn stainless steel trays here, the ones with six depressions of various sizes + shapes to hold the food. They make very efficient radiators of heat, being capable of cooling scrambled eggs on a chilly morning faster than any other known device. Also the depressions are only about ¾ “ deep, which is no good for soup + cereal. But these boxes, in case you haven’t seen them, are made so one of the broad sides opens + they are lined with wax paper so that you can pour milk into it + eat right out of the box.
Did I tell you that both my watch and our alarm clock have started to run fast since we came up north? The watch must gain nearly a minute a day and the clock at least two minutes. In S.A. I didn’t have to set the watch oftener than once a month (after the weather got hot) + the clock maybe once a week.
The toll-house cookies came the other day and were in an excellent state of preservation. I’ve had so much to eat in the last couple of weeks that I’m getting fat again, I think.
Well, I have to go see Bob Layton pretty soon, so I’ll sign off for the present. Take care of yourself + Toots + Willy.

Love B