Wed. evening

Dear Folks,

Don’t get the idea that I am at Santa Ana yet but will be there Sun. We didn’t get our change of address till yesterday or I would have let you know it sooner. The address doesn’t seem very complete so will probably have another when we get there. I hope things are better organized in the mail room there than they were at Fresno.

It will really be good to get away from some of this heat, it is gradually wearing everyone down. There really isn’t much sense in going to bed anymore.

I got your letter the day before yesterday. I was glad to hear that the gifts were satisfactory. I was afraid that the things might not fit Karen, will the knitted outfit fit her by the time it is cool enough to wear. It had been a long time since I had sent you anything and you had sent me so many packages that I thought it was about my time. Things aren’t near as good out here as they are in Chicago but that isn’t anyones fault.

It sounded like Karen really had a swell birthday, so many gifts and such a wonderful party. I hope she is fully recovered from her fall off the bed but that isn’t as bad as being dropped on the parlor floor. If I recall you did that to me about 19 years ago. Maybe I don’t recall it but I had heard of it.

Don’t worry about my pocket book, we got paid today and we have six weeks of confinement to look forward to at Santa Ana so there won’t be much to spend it on. Besides you should know that it is against the principles of a private to have any money three weeks after he has been paid.

Mrs. Perkins told me she received a letter from you, she said she was going to write. They are coming out Fri. evening to see me. I won’t get to see them for much more than an hour but they wanted to see me before I left.

I am going to write Aunt Mollie^[1]Aunt Mollie Smith is his father’s sister, living in Pasadena, California. tonight. I doubt if I get to see them for about 6 weeks unless they come out to the base. I think it is about 30 mi. from Los Angeles.

Steve is still training his crew at Norfolk. He is another person who I must write.

We are going on a six hr. hike tomorrow which wouldn’t be bad if it wasn’t for the heat. However, we will get to see some of this desert country. There is plenty of it around here.

Will drop you a card before Sat. and hope to hear from you at Santa Ana.

Love, Tom