Sunday
Dear Pat,
Received your Friday letter yesterday and Physics alibi duly noted. What we want is results, not excuses!
Hope you are feeling better. I wonder if the steady diet of cookies and fudge didn't contribute a little to the transformation of your complexion from a brown study to the green death. Hope you went for medical aid.
Did you enjoy "The Bat [sic] Seed?" We have seen several movies on the ever-lovin' passes Mother acquires. Seems they give passes to all the dogs but get tight with them when good pictures come along.
You haven't mentioned your plans for coming home Thanksgiving recently. Are you still planning to bring your friend? I picked up time tables the other day and figured out your connections. Believe me those time tables can get complicated when you plan a trip over several routes. I boiled down the essential information and put it on a card for your convenience.
I listed the 11:42 out of Holyoke but you probably can't make it, having to register in Math class at 11:10. Your best bet is to make the 1:22 arriving Grand Central at 4:35 giving you until 5:25 to make the Red Arrow at Penn Station. Don't underestimate the probable size of the traveling public on Wednesday. You may fail to get on certain trains and have to wait for the next one. That's why I have listed all the alternates in addition to the logical connections.
The later trains out of Holyoke carry through coaches so you don't have to change at Springfield if you are on the right coach. However, they are slow boats and get you into New York too late for most of your Pennsy trains.
I strongly advise you to go into Holyoke as soon as possible this week and buy your ticket. Nothing is more frustrating than to be left waiting in line at the ticket window when your train pulls out of the station. And with holiday traffic at a small station there probably will be some delay in buying tickets. Maybe you can even make a reservation on the "Spirit of Saint Louis", which carries some reserved seat coaches and leaves Penn Station at 6:15. 'Fraid it's too late, though. Since you will have to return by train if the weather is bad, I was going to suggest that you buy a roundtrip ticket. However you save only about a dollar and, if you don't use the return, you have to go in and redeem it for the difference between on-way [sic] and round-trip, less a redemption fee. So just get a one-way ticket but get a through ticket from Holyoke to Lancaster so you don't have to bother along the way. Although you could check baggage all the way through, it wouldn't get to Lancaster when you do because they don't carry baggage on some of the New England trains. So pack your bag carefully for much toting or you'll wish you had Minnie's rollers under it.
Have to drive Gram to Church, now, so I'l [sic] sign off and mail this while I'm in town. Take care of yourself.
Love,
Dad.