friday, september 25, 1942

dearest kitty,

father has a friend, a man in his mid-seventies named mr. dreher, who's sick, poor and deaf as a post. at his side, like a useless appendage, is his wife, twenty-seven years younger and equally poor, whose arms and legs are loaded with real and fake bracelets and rings left over from more prosperous days. this mr. dreher has already been a great nuisance to father, and i've always admired the saintly patience with which he handled this pathetic old man on the phone. when we were still living at home, mother used to advise him to put a gramophone in front of the receiver, one that would repeat every three minutes, "yes, mr. dreher" and "no, mr. dreher," since the old man never understood a word of father's lengthy replies anyway.

today mr. dreher phoned the office and asked mr. kugler to come and see him. mr. kugler wasn't in the mood and said he would send miep, but miep canceled the appointment. mrs. dreher called the office three times, but since miep was reportedly out the entire afternoon, she had to imitate bep's voice. downstairs in the office as well as upstairs in the annex, there was great hilarity. now each time the phone rings, bep says' 'that's mrs. dreher!" and miep has to laugh, so that the people on the other end of the line are greeted with an impolite giggle. can't you just picture it? this has got to be the greatest office in the whole wide world. the bosses and the office girls have such fun together!

some evenings i go to the van daans for a little chat. we eat "mothball cookies" (molasses cookies that were stored in a closet that was mothproofed) and have a good time. recently the conversation was about peter. i said that he often pats me on the cheek, which i don't like. they asked me in a typically grown-up way whether i could ever learn to love peter like a brother, since he loves me like a sister. "oh, no!" i said, but what i was thinking was, "oh, ugh!" just imagine! i added that peter's a bit stiff, perhaps because he's shy. boys who aren't used to being around girls are like that.

i must say that the annex committee (the men's section) is very creative. listen to the scheme they've come up with to get a message to mr. broks, an opekta co. sales representative and friend who's surreptitiously hidden some of our things for us! they're going to type a letter to a store owner in southern zealand who is, indirectly, one of opekta' s customers and ask him to fill out a form and send it back in the enclosed self-addressed envelope. father will write the address on the envelope himself. once the letter is returned from zealand, the form can be removed and a handwritten message confirming that father is alive can be inserted in the envelope. this way mr. broks can read the letter without suspecting a ruse. they chose the province of zealand because it's close to belgium (a letter can easily be smuggled across the border) and because no one is allowed to travel there without a special permit. an ordinary salesman like mr. broks would never be granted a permit.

yesterday father put on another act. groggy with sleep, he stumbled off to bed. his feet were cold, so i lent him my bed socks. five minutes later he flung them to the floor. then he pulled the blankets over his head because the light bothered him. the lamp was switched off, and he gingerly poked his head out from under the covers. it was all very amusing. we started talking about the fact that peter says margot is a "buttinsky." suddenly daddy's voice was heard from the depths: "sits on her butt, you mean.

mouschi, the cat, is becoming nicer to me as time goes by, but i'm still somewhat afraid of her.

yours, anne