Two letters from Anna to Dad, one on the 5th and another dated July 6, 1943. Anna brings up the issue of the references that Dad has asked various neighbor and community members (including the Dr. Derkowski and Chmielewski, the undertaker) to provide for him. Anna mentions that the doctor said the form came from Army Intelligence. With that she reached the conclusion that it “…means languages as you mentioned as second choice.” She raises the possibility that it could mean Censorship School and that “Army Intelligence… is something like the FBI only in the Army and it is very good. Don’t argue if you get into it.”
The baby seems to be in a teething stage with everything from the bed sheets to the leather harness of the baby carriage ending up in her mouth. As Anna tells it, “She had a teething ring and another device for teething but none of those things interest her.” Two teeth have already come in. In other news, the baby is scheduled for her Diphtheria shot next month.
With the Fourth of July just passed, they have had plenty of visitors including “Stella and Florence and Eddie’s girl.” I am assuming the Eddie that is being referred to her is their cousin Eddie Morawski who is expected home on furlough on the 6th. Apparently the visitors upset the baby as it “took almost an hour to quiet her down. Mama took her on her lap and turned backwards to us so Terry wouldn’t see them but she kept on turning her head and stretching her neck to see if they were still there and when she saw them she puckered up her face and started crying all over again. After a while she stopped and we were all relieved.” Ed’s Aunt Tessie was in town and came to visit. Anna reports that the baby isn’t afraid of Eddie’s folks “because she knows them already.”
Anna also reports that “the baby doesn’t want to sleep any more like she used to. She wants to strut around the house but she doesn’t realize that we can’t just play with her… When she gets up and finds herself standing up she looks so happy and her little head goes around like on a swivel and she smiles that content look. Gee boys, if you could only see her doing it.”
In other neighborhood news:
- “That Johnson girl across the street…has finally landed a boyfriend. He comes in a maroon coupe that shines like glass. She goes steady with him”
- There is a new priest at the church. Fr. Anthony Micek, who “…is sort of tall and has a fair complexion and is slim…and wears glasses. He looks so young and boyish. He almost looks like a nineteen year old.”
- Tommy Cotrofeld, who is stationed at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma with the Medical Corps, married his longtime girlfriend Emily. Anna mentions that they were dating for five years, compared to the two years that she dated Eddie before they got married “and you know the sermons I used to get when I got home.”
- Cousin Josephine Weiss moved to Tennessee where her husband is stationed. She plans to be in Tennessee with him until he gets shipped overseas.
- Anna’s husband Eddie is going up to Lake Champlain this coming weekend to go fishing. Apparently he has already secured a permit from the local Ration Board to go on the trip.