Zlata's Diary Read Online Free Page B

remember who took what place—I was too busy enjoying my pizza.
    I’ve finished studying and tomorrow I can go to school BRAVELY, without being afraid of getting a bad grade. I deserve a good grade because I studied all weekend and I didn’t even go out to play with my friends in the park. The weather is nice and we usually play “monkey in the middle,” talk and go for walks. Basically, we have fun.

Friday, October 11, 1991
    A hard but successful working day. Math test—A, written test in language—A, biology oral—A. I’m tired, but happy.
    Another weekend ahead of me. We’re going to Crnotina (our place about fifteen kilometers away)—it has a big orchard with a house that’s about 150 years old—a cultural monument under protection of the state. Mommy and Daddy restored it. Grandma and Granddad are still there. I miss them. I miss Vildana, her dog Ati, I miss the clean air and beautiful countryside.

Sunday, October 13, 1991
    It was wonderful in Crnotina. I like our house (it’s really unusual) and the surrounding countryside more and more every time we go. We picked pears, apples, walnuts, we took pictures of a clever little squirrel that stole the walnuts, in the evening we had a barbecue—my specialty is ć evapčiċi [grilled meat rolls]. Grandma made apple strudel. I collected different leaves for the herbarium and played with Ati.
    Autumn has already replaced summer. Slowly but surely it is painting and coloring nature with its brush. The leaves are turning yellow, red, and they are falling. The days are getting shorter and it’s colder. Autumn is really nice too! In fact, every season’s nice in its own way. Somehow I don’t notice and don’t feel the beauty of nature when I’m in town the way I do when I’m in Crnotina. In Crnotina it smells good, it caresses me, it calls me into its embrace. I had a really nice rest enjoying and feeling the beauty of nature.

Saturday, October 19, 1991
    Yesterday was a really awful day. We were ready to go to Jahorina (the most beautiful mountain in the world) for the weekend. But when I got home from school, I found my mother in tears and my father in uniform. I had a lump in my throat when Daddy said he had been called up by the police reserve. I hugged him, crying, and started begging him not to go, to stay at home. He said he had to go. Daddy went, and Mommy and I were left alone. Mommy cried and phoned friends and relatives. Everyone came immediately (Slobo, Doda, Keka, Mommy’s brother Braco, Aunt Melica, there were so many I can’t remember them all). They all came to console us and to offer their help. Keka took me to spend the night with Martina and Matea. When I woke up in the morning, Keka told me everything was all right and that Daddy would be home in two days.
    I’m home now, Melica is staying with us and it looks as though everything will be all right. Daddy should be home the day after tomorrow. Thank God!

Tuesday, October 22, 1991
    Everything really does seem to have turned out all right. Daddy got back yesterday, on his birthday. He’s off again tomorrow, and then every two days. He’ll be on duty for ten hours each time. We’ll just have to get used to it. I suppose it won’t last for long. But, I don’t know what it all means. Some reservists from Montenegro have entered Herzegovina. Why? For what? Politics, it seems, but I don’t understand politics. After Slovenia and Croatia, are the winds of war now blowing toward Bosnia-Herzegovina??? No, that’s impossible.

Wednesday, October 23, 1991
    There’s a real war going on in Dubrovnik. It’s being badly shelled. People are in shelters, they have no water, no electricity, the phones aren’t working. We see horrible pictures on TV. Mommy and Daddy are worried. Is it possible that such a beautiful town is being destroyed? Mommy and Daddy are especially fond of it. It was