wednesday, may 31, 1944

dearest kitty,

saturday, sunday, monday and tuesday it was too hot to hold my fountain pen, which is why i couldn't write to you. friday the drains were clogged, saturday they were fixed. mrs. kleiman came for a visit in the afternoon and told us a lot about jopiej she and jacque van maarsen are in the same hockey club. sunday bep dropped by to make sure there hadn't been a break-in and stayed for breakfast. monday (a holiday because of pentecost), mr. gies served as the annex watchman, and tuesday we were finally allowed to open the windows. we've seldom had a pentecost weekend that was so beautiful and warm. or maybe "hot" is a better word. hot weather is horrible in the annex. to give you an idea of the numerous complaints, i'll briefly describe these sweltering days.

saturday: "wonderful, what fantastic weather," we all said in the morning. "if only it weren't quite so hot," we said in the afternoon, when the windows had to be shut.

sunday: "the heat's unbearable, the butter's melt- ing, there's not a cool spot anywhere in the house, the bread's drying out, the milk's going sour, the windows can't be opened. we poor outcasts are suffocating while everyone else is enjoying their pentecost." (according to mrs. van d.)

monday: "my feet hurt, i have nothing cool to wear, i can't do the dishes in this heat!" grumbling from early in the morning to late at night. it was awful.

i can't stand the heat. i'm glad the wind's come up today, but that the sun's still shining.

yours, anne m. fran

k