The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank

Dearest Kitty, Last night before dinner I tucked the letter I'd written into Father's pocket. According to Margot, he read it and was upset for the rest of the evening. (I was upstairs washing up! ) Poor Pim, I might have known what the effect of such an epistle would be. He's so sensitive! I immediately told Peter not to ask any questions or say anything more. Pim's said nothing else to me about the matter. Is he going to?

Everything here is more or less back to normal. We can hardly believe what Jan, Mr Kugler and Mr Kleiman tell us about the prices and the people on the outside; half a pound of tea costs 350.00 guilders, half a pound of coffee 80.00 guilders, a pound of butter 35.00 guilders, one egg 1.45 guilders. People are paying 14.00 guilders an ounce for Bulgarian cigarettes! Everyone's trading on the black market; every errand boy has something to offer. The baker's delivery boy has supplied us with darning wool - 90 cents for one measly skein - the milkman can get hold of ration books, an undertaker delivers cheese. Break-ins, murders and thefts are daily occurrences. Even the police and night watchmen are getting in on the act. Everyone wants to put food in their stomachs, and since wages have been frozen, people have had to resort to smuggling. The police have their hands full trying to track down the many girls of fifteen, sixteen, seventeen and older who are reported missing every day.