June 8, 1941,

Saw Ernie off to Vt on the train and checked up on how much and long it would take to go to Alabama.  Spent all afternoon looking for a white dress and finally bought one.  Came home all tired out and got dressed for tennis.  Nat’s brother, John, came at 5:30 but we found the Forrest Park courts closed.  We played for about 10 mins at Blunt Park.  Ate ice cream at Howard Johnson’s and then drove around and landed in Hartford.  He tried to teach me to turn around in a car and I sweated and was bad.  He seems to enjoy my company, or so he says.

I am so excited for her trip to Alabama. I haven’t transcribed far enough ahead so I don’t know if it all works out to their plans but I expect it to be a sweet reunion. I also think this part about Babu learning to turn a car with John is so cute. Why can’t she learn? It’s been a while now that different people have been trying to teach her and she just continually runs over curbs and doesn’t do it well. Were cars so much harder to manage in the 40s?

June 9, 1941,

This noon Ernie informed me that her brother was married Sat.  He’s twenty-one and She’s 35- a school teacher.  Missed my bus waiting for Hitchcock to sign my letters.  Visited Nell for a while and then went to choir.  Spike took Zosh home and while we sat there talking, Joe Chimiel and his brother joined us and we talked some more.

Intrigue. 35 and 21…I don’t know… trying not to judge…little icky…

June 10, 1941,

About four o’clock Ernie called me to say she wasn’t coming to the meet and that Jeb had run into a tree after he brought her to the train Monday morning.  Edmund gave us a ride to meeting and Nat and I stopped in at Jane Guzik’s shower.  We were getting home around 11:30 when Ed picked us up and took us out to Howard Johnson’s for ice cream. 

Oh no. Poor Jeb. He is enough of a regular in this little drama and I tend to get a little attached. I looked ahead in the transcribings and I don’t think she follows up on how badly he was hurt or if he was ok. She can get self absorbed in these passages, but, after all, it is her own diary.