Of course I would have to be one of those twenty. According to the notice, I had been transferred to Class 1 L II. I knew a couple of the boys and some of the girls in this class, at least to speak to, but Lies was still back in Class 1 L I.
I felt quite forlorn, all by myself in my assigned seat in the back row, behind a group of tall girls. So, during the next period, I raised my hand and asked if I could move to another seat, since the only way I could see anything from behind those broad backs was to lean into the aisle. My request was immediately granted, so I picked up my meagre belongings for the second time and moved to another seat.
Third period was gym. The teacher turned out to be so nice that I begged her to do what she could to get Lies transferred to my class. I don’t know how she did it, but during the next period, in walked Lies. She was seated next to me.
After that, I was reconciled with the whole school. The school – which had given me so many advantages and so much pleasure – was now smiling down on me and, my spirits soaring again, I began to pay attention to what the Geography teacher was saying.
Wednesday, 11 August 1943
WRINGING HER HANDS, she comes into the room, wringing her hands, she sits down. She’s forever wringing, wringing, wringing her hands.
Miss Biegel of Biology (gone are the days when it was called Natural History): a tiny woman with a big nose, blue-grey eyes and grey hair, truly the face of a mouse or some other little creature.
Following behind her, somebody carries in the chart and the skeleton. She moves over to stand behind the stove, wringing her hands again, and the lesson begins. First she goes over the homework, then starts teaching. Oh, she knows a lot, our Miss Biegel does. She tells a good story, about everything from fish to reindeer, but most of all (or so Margot says) she likes to talk and ask questions about reproduction. (Probably because she’s an ‘old maid’.)
All of a sudden her lecture is interrupted. A wad of paper flies through the room and lands on my desk.
‘What have you got there?’ Miss Biegel asked me in the unmistakable accent of someone from The Hague.
‘I don’t know, Miss Biegel!’
‘Bring it here!’
Reluctantly, I got up from my desk and took the note up to the front.
‘Who threw it?’
‘I don’t know, Miss Biegel. I haven’t read it yet.’
‘Oh. Then we’ll start by finding out what it says.’
She unfolded the note and let me read what was written on it. There was only one word: ‘snitch’. I turned red. She looked at me.
‘So now do you know who threw it?’
‘No, Miss Biegel.’
‘That’s a lie!’
I turned bright red and glared at her, my eyes flashing, but I didn’t say a word.
‘I want to know who wrote it. Whoever it was, raise your hand!’
A hand went up at the back of the room. Just as I suspected – Rob Cohen.
‘Rob, come here!’ Rob came. ‘Why did you write that?’ Silence.
‘Do you know what it refers to, Anne?’
‘Yes, Miss Biegel.’
‘Tell me!’
‘Can’t we discuss it another time, Miss Biegel? It’s a long story.’
‘No, I want to hear it now!’
So I told her about the F I’d got for cheating in the French test and about telling on the rest of the class.
‘That’s a delightful tale! Rob, couldn’t you wait until after the lesson to give Anne the benefit of your opinion? As for you, Anne, I find it difficult to believe that you didn’t know who threw the note. Go back to your seats!’
I was furious. When I got home I recounted the entire incident, and later, when an opportunity to get back at Miss Biegel presented itself, I sent Father to deal with her.
He came home with the news that he had called her Miss Biggel the whole time. According to her, Anne Frank was a very nice girl, and she had no recollection of having said I’d lied!
Wednesday, 11 August 1943
STANDING BEFORE THE CLASS, he’s an impressive figure: tall, old, always in the same grey suit with a wing collar, a bald head with a wreath of grey hair. Speaks a strange dialect, grumbles a lot, laughs a lot. Patient when you try, short-tempered when you’re lazy.
Nine out of the ten children he calls on don’t know the answer. Over and over again, he explains, describes and demonstrates how to arrive at a number below zero.
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