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

The papers are full of invasion news and are driving everyone insane with such
statements as: "In the event of a British landing in Holland, the Germans will do
what they can to defend the country, even flooding it, if necessary." They've
published maps of Holland with the potential flood areas marked. Since large
portions of Amsterdam were shaded in, our first question was what we should do if
the water in the streets rose to above our waists. This tricky question elicited a
variety of responses:
"It'll be impossible to walk or ride a bike, so we'll have to wade through the
water."
"Don't be silly. We'll have to try and swim. We'll all put on our bathing suits
and caps and swim underwater as much as we can, so nobody can see we're Jews."
"Oh, baloney! I can just imagine the ladies swimming with the rats biting their
legs!" (That was a man, of course; we'll see who screams loudest!)
"We won't even be able to leave the house. The warehouse is so unstable it'll
collapse if there's a flood."
"Listen, everyone, all joking aside, we really ought to try and get a boat."
"Why bother? I have a better idea. We can each take a packing crate from the attic
and row with a wooden spoon."
"I'm going to walk on stilts. I used to be a whiz at it when I was young."
"Jan Gies won't need to. He'll let his wife ride piggyback, and then Miep will be
on stilts."
So now you have a rough idea of what's going on, don't you, Kit? This lighthearted
banter is all very amusing, but reality will prove otherwise. The second question
about the invasion was bound to arise: what should we do if the Germans evacuate
Amsterdam?
"Leave the city along with the others. Disguise ourselves as well as we can."
"Whatever happens, don't go outside! The best thing to do is to stay put! The
Germans are capable of herding the entire population of Holland into Germany,
where they'll all die."
"Of course we'll stay here. This is the safest place.
We'll try to talk Kleiman and his family into coming here to live with us. We'll
somehow get hold of a bag of wood shavings, so we can sleep on the floor. Let's
ask Miep and Kleiman to bring some blankets, just in case. And we'll order some
extra cereal grains to supplement the sixty-five pounds we already have. Jan can
try to find some more beans. At the moment we've got about sixty-five pounds of
beans and ten pounds of split peas. And don't forget the fifty cans of
vegetables."
"What about the rest, Mother? Give us the latest figures.' ,
"Ten cans of fish, forty cans of milk, twenty pounds of powdered milk, three
bottles of oil, four crocks of butter, four jars of meat, two big jars of
strawberries, two jars of raspberries, twenty jars of tomatoes, ten pounds of
oatmeal, nine pounds of rice. That's it."