Michael Billings Collection - Wallet 6 - Part 6 of 14

15.2.43 
Mrs. M Billings      
548 Barkers Road 
Est Hawthorn 
Victoria

16.2.43 
  
Darling Kay, 
Good day to you, lass and I fondly 
trust this finds you fine and dandy and 
nobly withstanding the onslaughts of Richard. 
No letters from no one today but tomorrow 
is not far away and a letter or so should 
eventuate. Your limit is two days so barring 
postal mishaps, one of your lovely  discourses 
seems certain to come to hand and t'will be 
very welcome too. I've had a lot more than 
a hundred letters from you and still look for 
more. They're so natural, a true reflection of you 
sweet, engagingly s frank and communicative 
and now more than ever. I must continue to 
know you well. even though denied the comfort 
and thrill of your personal ministrations. Being 
dependant upon your letters to maintain that 
vital link, I'm grateful that my sweetheart is 
a spontaneous, bubbling type and transmits her 
nature into her letters. 
I'm always happy that my  
letters give you some pleasure and contentment as 
so many people write such trite dull stuff and

2/ 
it would be horrible if we had such grievous 
shortcomings when letters mean so much to us. 
I've kept up a fair average score to you and 
hope they continue to roll in to you frequently. 
Thanks by the way for the text book to hand 
and now standby for the discs to catch up with 
me. Funny thing. they had a check-up on them 
today and my face was a bit red when I 
couldn't cough up with the little dears. I wrote 
you t'other day about getting some shirts renovated 
but you can forget about them, pet. a local 
in fixing them for a reasonable sum and 
they are with her now. Glad you will be soon 
be sporting your badge of honor soon although 
additional stars won't be in your line, I should 
not think. 
The usual dearth of news from here 
for the day, gardening this morning which gives 
me a pain. If it was my own, it would be 
different and it would never be such a tangle either. 
This afternoon I played around with electrical 
apparatus training a fault in a cable so a very 
big day I've had. The weather has been stormy 
and overcast making you feel hot one minute

3/ 
and cold the next. The mosquitoes have been 
very bad of late particularly indoors and the 
net is your best friend at night, believe me. 
The lads are giving the pineapples a hiding just 
now, they are in abundance, and canteen sells 
them, little solo appetisers for 1 1/2' each. 
Very tasty and refreshing after the greasy 
concoctions the Army specialisis in. Off again 
toda tomorrow and intend to go to the  Lyceum 
where Les Miserables and the Great Waltz are 
showing. They sound rather inviting and I feel 
like a bit entertainment after the hectic days 
of late. 
Feel rather faded tonight and 
my thoughts are very sluggish. so on that 
happy note, I shall terminate this episode 
and go and have a chunk of shut-eye to  
refresh the old carcase. Cheerio my 
darling bundle and I am charmed to 
send you a huge kiss and a mighty 
heap of love and my warmest wish that 
you keep young Richard well under control. 
Sweet dreams precious. Micky

Mrs M Billings 16.243  
548 Barkins Road 
East Hawthorn 
Victoria

18.2.43 
Darling Kay 
Nice work, sweetheart, the expected 
break in the drought eventuated today when your 
letters of the 12th and 15th were deposited on 
my ample lap and I was promptly immersed 
in the contents. Thanks, precious one although 
I was sorry to hear you had a spasm of the 
blue. I realise they are more of less inevitable 
and are a product of the physical ordeal you  
are undergoing at present. A mercurial 
temperament like yours is prone to changes 
of mind and to be sure make you an 
interesting to knock about with. The time 
to worry of the doleful spells is when you 
have them constantly and can't shake them off. 
Pleased you've had eno  another one from me 
and you still get a kick out of them. Don't 
bother your curly head about my coupons, no 
one is more welcome to and needs them 
more than Richard and Kay. The pity is that 
they are so few. Clothes don't worry me just 
now except perhaps sox but I'll go without 
before I'll buy them myself. I can hang on 
a while longer with what I have now. 

2/ 
Glad the climate has remained temperate and 
pleasant as the weather is a good ally for 
you to have. You need to occupy yourself 
by feeling up to getting around a bit and 
extremes of weather don't encourage you to do it. 
The little chap's garments are assuming goodly 
proportions and the aid of all and sundry 
is very encouraging. I reckon you're a bit of 
plausible rogue enticing contributors but 
they must like you a lot to offer to kick up in 
a stitch or two. Well, that meeting of Ada's 
with the splendidly named twins was a  
coincidence and a half, you would not read 
about it. I confess the prospect of twins is 
outside the bounds of my imagination in our  
case. The chances are all against it by the 
law of averages but I suppose stranger things 
happen every day. Do you reckon we're that 
good? 
I don't think you need be 
exercised at the awful prospect of the old man 
being rubbed out yet awhile. I expect to encumber  
the earth for a long time yet and get in your 
hair many times during my tenure on it. 

3/ 
Of course, one can't entirely ignore the fact there's a 
war on and I'm more of less a combatant 
party and can't claim immunity any more than 
another. If that did come to pass. I pray I do 
the thing decently and feel at the end I had 
made the sacrifice for you to go on unharmed 
and thankful that you could rear and train 
our kid to be a good bloke and not a 
slave of those yellow bastards. You know, sweet 
lots of blokes have sweated, rotted, starves 
and died to give you people the right and the 
privilege to carry on Aussie for the Australians, 
not to die with them. If I were to join them 
I know full well a big piece of you would 
always ^ be with me but but like any nervous person 
you would rise again because you've got the 
guts, that hard core of the will that will 
only leave you at the end. Anyhow, that's 
about enough in that strain, the chances of 
me going west are a bit higher than getting 
sconed by a tram or car in Brisbane and 
are generally avoided by the same drill of 
looking what you're doing. Never abate you prayers 
for us, dearest, that's the way to come out on top.