536 1/28/1944 Helen Carlson to Sadie Erwin

Helen Carlson 2021-5th, Lake Charles, Louisiana Friday, January 28, 1944

Sadie Erwin Box 44, Enumclaw, Washington

Dear Folks, I just put Jimmie to bed for his nap but I’m not going to sleep because I have to go downtown when he wakes up and wanted to mail a letter to you then. I had a letter from Jim today telling me he was still at Barksdale and they are restricted because of so much venereal disease among the soldiers, instead of being shipped out so maybe he will be here for awhile after all. He said there is no disease in his squadron so he may be able to get down soon. I hope so. I don’t think he’ll be able to use the car much though because we are so short of gas. I hope he won’t think it is because we don’t want him to on account of the accident. I told you about him losing his present from Maxine. Well the lost is found. This morning I was getting my laundry together and came across that pair of pants he had worn. It had fallen behind the trunk so I hadn’t sent it to the wash woman after all and the identification tag was in the pocket. He will be glad. I’ll send it to him if he doesn’t get down soon. The rainy cold weather is still here and we haven’t had many nice days for a long time it seems. This town stays practically flooded because the Gulf goes into the river and the river backs up into this lake here and the lake rises way up so the water can’t run out anyplace. I wrote to Ora Dell asking her to send me the bassinette. Some day when you feel like it send me the baby clothes. Wait until we know if we’re going to move though because I can’t get much more into our room. Now that the baby has started kicking it makes me kind of anxious to get everything together to see what more I will need. I want to line the bassinette and paint it if it needs it. The other night we went to the show and left Jimmie home with Frances and her mother. He cried when we left and they said the only way they could get him to stop was to tell him they would hunt bugs. He just loves to do that and he can spot them faster than anyone. He can see a bug no matter where it is and he’ll say, “there’s a bug” and lots of times it takes us a long time before we see it. Then we spray the bug and he likes to see them drop. Jim said in his letter he saw the Koenig boy. They had a nice talk and their barracks aren’t very far apart so they will see each other often. I think it is nice to see friends like that when you are so far from home. Frances has this good-looking boyfriend named Howard. She made the remark that any girl who was good enough to get a man away from her would be her best friend. I told Jim and he said in the letter that Howard stepped out on her all the time. He said Howard even asks Maxine to go out. Maybe I’m mean but I was glad to hear that because she is always mentioning how beautiful the fellows think she is. She said the fellows called her pudgie and I asked her why and she said because she pudged in the right places. She asked me what size shoe I wore and I said size 7½. She said she wore a 6 triple. I thought her feet looked as big as mine. The other night she left her shoes in the bathroom so I tried them on and they were too big for me. Well Folks I guess I’ll take a bath, or maybe I’ll lie down for a few minutes after all. Love, Helen I feel sure when we move that Frances won’t get another couple in here who put up with her ways as good as we do. She is nice and easy to get along with but just so it doesn’t interfere with her plans and we take anything in order not to have any trouble while we are here. When we move Elmer is going to find out if this place is registered with the O.P.A. We practically know it isn’t. I sure hope we do move this month. Love, Helen