1/6/1944	
Bernice to Martha


2219 Biscayne Blvd.
Miami, Florida
January 6, 1944
Dear Mollie,
Well as the s[ay]ing goes, you knew I was going to write 
by my being so long about it, didn't you?
From a present angle Christhmas was very satisfactory. I was 
very pleased with everthing I got. There must be such a thing as
mental telepathy, else how could you know that I didn't have a decent 
slip to my name. If I live through enough birthdays and Christmases
I believe I'll finally accumulate some silver after all. Chris gave
me a book and a flower for my hair. The flower matches my new dress
that I bought for Christmas. Loretta gave us all a silver bracelet.
Liz gave me a lapel p[i]n, a gold elephant.
I am going to [ta]ke Saturday and Monday off. Saturday afternoon
I'm going to get a [perm]anent wave. My hair has absolutely reached the
last stages of string[in]ess. I think that I will feel much more in
harmony with the world if get my hair fixed. 
Last night Liz called and asked me to double date with her. She 
had a couple of sergeants with her. I was expecting a call from a
Lt. (jg) in the Coast Guard as he had said something the night before
about seeing me. He hadn't called when Liz asked me to go with them
so I went ahead. We went to the picture show and saw a good murder
show called "Crime Doctor's Strangest Case". They were very nice
boys (not particularly interesting I must admit) and were different
from the officers in that they did not cuss all the time or drink all
the time. When I got [h]ome Cris said that Fred (the Lt) had come by
with another boy. I [sai]d, "I suppose you smoothed everything over
in your usual diploma[ti]c manner." Sake She said, "Call it diplomatic
if you want to, I tol[d] him he had no business waiting so late to come
by."
There are several reasons why this typing is so bad. The first
is that I am in very much of a hurry to get it done before somebody
calls me down for writing personal letters and tells me that I am
being paid to work for the Government. The next reason is that this
is a very bad machine. All of the typewriters in the office are.
I dont see how we do as good work as wer we do.
Thanks again e[ve]r so much for the slip and fork.
We enjoyed your letter. 
Love,
Bernice