THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL : THE DEFINITIVE EDITION ... - Fidele

at how accurately I can list the actors in any given movie, even after a year.
Bep, who often goes to the movies with her boyfriend on her day off, tells me on
Saturday the name of the show they're going to see, and I then proceed to rattle
off the names of the leading actors and actresses and the reviews. Moms recently
remarked ; that I wouldn't need to go to the movies later on, because !
I know all the plots, the names of the stars and the reviews by heart.
Whenever I come sailing in with a new hairstyle, I I can read the disapproval on
their faces, and I can be sure someone will ask which movie star I'm trying to
imitate. My reply, that it's my own invention, is greeted with ~ skepticism. As
for the hairdo, it doesn't hold its set for ~ more than half an hour. By that time
I'm so sick and tired i of their remarks that I race to the bathroom and restore
my hair to its normal mass of curls.
Yours, Anne
FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 1944
Dearest Kitty,
This morning I was wondering whether you ever felt like a cow, having to chew my
stale news over and over again until you're so fed up with the monotonous fare
that you yawn and secretly wish Anne would dig up something new.
Sorry, I know you find it dull as ditchwater, but imagine how sick and tired I am
of hearing the same old stuff. If the talk at mealtime isn't about politics or
good food, then Mother or Mrs. van D. trot out stories about their childhood that
we've heard a thousand times before, or Dussel goes on and on about beautiful
racehorses, his Charlotte's extensive wardrobe, leaky rowboats, boys who can swim
at the age of four, aching muscles and frightened patients. It all boils down to
this: whenever one of the eight of us opens his mouth, the other seven can finish
the story for him. We know the punch line of every joke before it gets told, so
that whoever's telling it is left to laugh alone. The various milkmen, grocers and
butchers of the two former housewives have been praised to the skies or run into
the ground so many times that in our imaginations they've grown as old as
Methuselah; there's absolutely no chance of anything new or fresh being brought up
for discussion in the Annex.
Still, all this might be bearable if only the grown-ups weren't in the habit of
repeating the stories we hear from Mr. Kleiman, jan or Miep, each time
embellishing them with a few details of their own, so that I often have to pinch
my arm under the table to keep myself from setting the enthusiastic storyteller on
the right track. Little children, such as Anne, must never, ever correct their
elders, no matter how many blunders they make or how often they let their
imaginations run away with them.
Jan and Mr. Kleiman love talking about people who have gone underground or into
hiding; they know we're eager to hear about others in our situation and that we
truly sympathize with the sorrow of those who've been arrested as well as the joy
of prisoners who've been freed.
Going underground or into hiding has become as routine as the proverbial pipe and
slippers that used to await the man of the house after a long day at work. There
are many resistance groups, such as Free Netherlands, that forge identity cards,
provide financial support to those in hiding, organize hiding places and find work
for young Christians who go underground. It's amazing how much these generous and