Wednesday, 10 May, 1944
Dear Kitty, We were sitting in the attic doing some French yesterday afternoon when I suddenly heard water pattering down behind me. I asked Peter what it could be, but without replying, he simply tore up to the loft, where the source of the disaster was, and pushed Mouschi, who, because of her wet earth box, had sat down beside it, harshly back to the right place. A great din and disturbance followed, and Mouschi, who had finished by that time, dashed downstairs.
Mouschi, seeking the convenience of something similar to her box, had chosen some wood shavings. The pool had trickled down from the loft into the attic immediately and, unfortunately, landed just in and beside the barrel of potatoes. The ceiling was dripping, and as the attic floor is not free from holes either, several yellow drips came through the ceiling into the dining room between a pile of stockings and some books, which were lying on the table. I was doubled up with laughter, it really was a scream. There was Mouschi crouching under a chair. Peter with water, bleaching powder, and floor cloth, and van Daan trying to soothe everyone. The calamity was soon over, but it’s a well-known fact that cats’ puddles positively stink. The potatoes proved this only too clearly and also the wood shavings, which Daddy collected in a bucket to be burned. Poor Mouschi! How were you to know that peat is unobtainable for your box?
Yours, Anne
PS: Our beloved Queen spoke to us yesterday and this evening. She is taking a holiday in order to be strong for her return to Holland. She used words like ‘soon, when I am back, speedy liberation, heroism, and heavy burdens.’ A speech by Gerbrandy followed. A clergyman concluded with a prayer to God to take care of the Jews, the people in concentration camps, in prisons, and in Germany.
