A Remarkable Occurrence.

A REMARKABLE OCCURRUNCE

As written before, we landed in a neighbourhood in Malang. Imagine a large residential area surrounded by high fence with barbed wire, cars stolen by the Japanese, streets completely empty. In each villa 10 unknown people were dropped, can you imagine what that meant for the owners of the villa’s. People everywhere, who have to sleep, eat and bath in your house without being able to complain about it, because if you did you were put in jail. It created a lot of racket, as we also found out. The lady of the house was totally annoyed all her beautiful furniture and things being ruined, all those people who slept in her living- and dining room, a disaster.
My parents decided to live in their garage. My grandmother, unfortunately had to stay with the lady of the house, until also my father had to leave as well as all the men over 18 years. How my parents got it done, I don’t remember, but chests arrived one day with sewing boxes and books from our house in Soerabaja. My mother started a library in the garage and earned some money that way. At the front gate was a small market where locals were allowed to sell their goods to our Dutch women. We played outside a lot. In the middle of the residential area was a large park, a part of which was grass and a part was a wood with very small fir trees. We climbed a lot in these trees. A big boy of about 15 to 16 years was dominating all the children. He was long, slender and had a lot of curly red-blond hair. His name was Henk. He was a nice fellow and in love with one of the older girls, Jaennie. He had chosen me to be his “postillion d’amour”. I had to take his notes and wait for her to write a note back to him. I did this for as long as we lived there. To thank me for doing this I was the only one allowed to ride on the back of his bike, I was a girl of 8 years then. Behind the bike also a line of roller skating children, the last one of the line sometimes fell in a hedge, but was always able to join the line again.
Despite the distress about our fathers, it was because of him, Henk, that we felt happy as a group. We talked a lot about the Japs, the departure of our fathers and the question on how to earn money, as none of our families recieved a salary. Families only received some milk, butter, a bit of sugar and some other things. When that was finished it was tough luck. My mother embroidered charming brooches and other beautiful things. I went from door to door to sell these and with that we also earned a little bit. Some days Henk accompanied me on his bike. After a couple of months this period came to an end and we had to leave for Solo. We all thought it was terrible and I remember that Henk, another girl and me talked one night until late to say goodbye and wish each other strenght.
Again we could only take so many things as we could carry and left this camp, also leaving our father behind, not knowing when we would evr see him again and what to expect next.

Years later, back in Holland, in 1953 when the dikes broke down and flooded one of Holland’s provinces, Zeeland, we, all the girls from the Haanstra teacher training college gathered together working and helping everywhere we could.
One of my best friends at that time was Riet, who lived in Leiden. With her I did a teaching practice in a nursery school in Leiden. Her boyfriend just broke up with her and she was very sad. I had a boyfriend too, later my ex.
At the end of every year we had a school dance in the “Burcht” in Leiden. It was something special, we had long dresses made for this dance and a big band was playing. We looked forward to it, except for Riet, who had no-one to accompany her. I asked my boyfriend if he couldn’t ask one of his friends to take her. As he didn’t really fancy to go with me alone, because he didn’t know anyone at the party, he was happy to ask one of his friends. I didn’t know any of his friends then, as I had just started going out with him. His friend first wanted to meet Riet, before going with her to the dance. Thus we arranged to go to the cinema, the four of us. Riet and I stood at the cinema in Leiden waiting for the boys and there was my friend and next to him someone who was very familiar to me. He had the same feeling. He was long tall and with red curley hair. I asked him: are you perhaps Henk from Malang?" Yes, he said and aren’t you Dinkie, the little girl with the pigtails?
There we were in Leiden me and my friend from the camp, who later married my friend Riet. For many years after, we saw a lot of each other, also later with our kids, arranged parties together and shared our worries. It always gave me a familiar happy feeling every time we were together. After 20 years we were both divorced and our lives went in seperate ways. Just before Henk died, he has been visiting us here in Zeeland and I could say goodbye to him, knowing I would not see him again as he was very ill. My friend, Riet who also lived in zeeland by this time, also died a couple of months after him. They both were very lovely persons and Ieft me with wonderful memories, gratefull to have known them both. Dinkie.