thursday, october 1, 1942

dear kitty,

yesterday i had a horrible fright. at eight o'clock the doorbell suddenly rang. all i could think of was that someone was coming to get us, you know who i mean. but i calmed down when everybody swore it must have been either pranksters or the mailman.

the days here are very quiet. mr. levinsohn, a little jewish pharmacist and chemist, is working for mr. kugler in the kitchen. since he's familiar with the entire building, we're in constant dread that he'll take it into his head to go have a look at what used to be the laboratory. we're as still as baby mice. who would have guessed three months ago that quicksilver anne would have to sit so quietly for hours on end, and what's more, that she could?

mrs. van daan's birthday was the twenty-ninth. though we didn't have a large celebration, she was showered with flowers, simple gifts and good food. apparently the red carnations from her spouse are a family tradition.

let me pause a moment on the subject of mrs. van daan and tell you that her attempts to flirt with father are a constant source of irritation to me. she pats him on the cheek and head, hikes up her skirt and makes so-called witty remarks in an effort to get's pim's attention. fortunately, he finds her neither pretty nor charming, so he doesn't respond to her flirtations. as you know, i'm quite the jealous type, and i can't abide her behavior. after all, mother doesn't act that way toward mr. van d., which is what i told mrs. van d. right to her face.

from time to time peter can be very amusing. he and i have one thing in common: we like to dress up, which makes everyone laugh. one evening we made our appearance, with peter in one of his mother's skin-tight dresses and me in his suit. he wore a hat; i had a cap on. the grown-ups split their sides laughing, and we enjoyed ourselves every bit as much.

bep bought new skirts for margot and me at the bijenkorf. the fabric is hideous, like the burlap bag potatoes come in. just the kind of thing the department stores wouldn't dare sell in the olden days, now costing 24.00 guilders (margot's) and 7.75 guilders (mine).

we have a nice treat in store: bep's ordered a correspondence course in shorthand for margot, peter and me. just you wait, by this time next year we'll be able to take perfect shorthand. in any case, learning to write a secret code like that is really interesting.

i have a terrible pain in my index finger (on my left hand), so i can't do any ironing.

what luck!

mr. van daan wants me to sit next to him at the table, since margot doesn't eat enough to suit him. fine with me, i like changes. there's always a tiny black cat roaming around the yard, and it reminds me of my dear sweet moortje. another reason i welcome the change is that mama's always carping at me, especially at the table. now margot will have to bear the brunt of it. or rather, won't, since mother doesn't make such sarcastic remarks to her. not to that paragon of virtue! i'm always teasing margot about being a paragon of virtue these days, and she hates it. maybe it'll teach her not to be such a goody-goody. high time she learned.

to end this hodgepodge of news, a particularly amusing joke told by mr. van daan: what goes click ninety-nine times and clack once?

a centipede with a clubfoot.

bye-bye, anne