Zlata's Diary (5 page)

It's my birthday tomorrow. Mommy is making a cake and all the rest, because we really celebrate in our house. One day is for my friends, that's December 3, and the next day is for family friends and relatives. Mommy and I are getting a tombola [a basket of party favors] together, and thinking up questions for the children's quiz. This year we have birthday cups, plates and napkins all with little red apples on them. They're sweet. Mommy bought them in Pula. The cake will be shaped like a butterfly and ... this time I'll be blowing out eleven candles. I'll have to take a deep breath and blow them all out at once.

Today is the big day—my birthday. Happy Birthday to Me!!! But, alas, I'm sick. My sinuses are inflamed and some kind of pus is trickling down my throat. Nothing hurts really, but I have to take an antibiotic—Penbritin, and some disgusting nose drops. They sting. Why did this have to happen on my birthday? Oh, I am unlucky! (Don't be such a pessimist, Zlata, things aren't so bad.)

All right, I'll get well and celebrate my birthday later, with my friends, I mean, because the “grown-up” guests (family and family friends) are coming to wish me a happy birthday today. And here I am in my nightgown! Mommy and Daddy gave me a wonderful birthday present—Head skis, new Tyrolia bindings and new poles. Super! Thank you Mommy. Thank you Daddy!!

We've just seen off some of the guests, and I'm tired, I have to stop writing, I've run out of ideas and inspiration. Good night.

I'm writing to you from bed, dear Diary. Another day in bed awaits me. Bimbilimbica (my favorite doll) is snoozing on the little table, and Panda just keeps looking and looking at her ... Let him look.

7:45. I'm in bed again, listening to the rattle of our washing machine. The repairman came to fix it. Poor thing, it's a hundred years old. I should treat it with respect. The repairman has gone and I'm now listening to Michael Jackson, “Man in the Mirror.” I just had a crazy idea. I'm going to try to join Madonna's Fan Club. I really am crazy!

I woke up very late. Then Azra, Minela and Bojana came by to see me. Bojana is having a birthday party on Saturday. Lucky her! WHY AM I SICK??? Boo-hoo! Boo-hoo!

The weekend in bed. Bojana's having her birthday party today and I can't go. I feel sad. I can't even read or watch TV anymore. I want to get well!

Every night Mommy and Daddy keep trying to get Srdjan on the phone. It's impossible to get through to Dubrovnik. God, there really is a war going on down there. Today I saw pictures of Dubrovnik on TV. Horrible. We're worried about Srdjan and his family. Mommy managed (because she was persistent) to get him on the phone at eleven o'clock last night. He's hungry and thirsty, he's cold, they have no electricity, no water, nothing to eat. He's sad. Mommy cried. What on earth is happening and why? God, is it possible that there's a war going on down there? Dubrovnik is being destroyed, people are dying. Sad but true. Take care of yourself, Srdjan, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. We'll be sending you another package in a few days, through Caritas.

On Monday I'm going to Auntie Mira's (the doctor's) for a check-up.

Ciao!!!

I went to see Auntie Mira. She says I can go back to school tomorrow. Whoopee! We bought a pair of gray trousers at “KIKA's” (the children's boutique). I like them. Well,
Murphy Brown
is going to be on TV now. I have to watch!!!

Ciao...

I'm back at school. There's a lot to learn, it'll be the end of term soon. I've got a math test tomorrow. I have to practice. I got an A in history today. On Saturday I'm celebrating (a bit late) my eleventh birthday.

Today, eleven days later, I celebrated my eleventh birthday with my girlfriends. It was like the real thing. We had the tombola, the quiz, the “butterfly” cake. I blew out all the candles on my first try. We had a good time. Being sick stopped me from having my party on December 3, but this was nice too. Once again—Happy Birthday to Me, and may I never get sick on this big day again. Oh yes, I got wonderful presents—most of them from “Melanie's” (a boutique with wonderful knick-knacks). They fit in perfectly with everything in my room.

Sarajevo has launched an appeal (on TV) called “Sarajevo Helps the Children of Dubrovnik.” In Srdjan's parcel we put a nice New Year's present for him to give to some child in Dubrovnik. We made up a package of sweets, chocolates, vitamins, a doll, some books, pencils, notebooks—whatever we could manage, hoping to bring happiness to some innocent child who has been stopped by the war from going to school, playing, eating what he wants and enjoying his childhood. It's a nice little package. I hope it makes whoever gets it happy. That's the idea. I also wrote a New Year's card saying I hoped the war in Dubrovnik would end soon.

5:45. I haven't written to you for a long time, dear Diary. Okay, let's start from the beginning. I got a B in my piano exam, an A in solfeggio and an A in general music, so I finished with an A average. Super. Mirna did the same as me. I wrote to
Sa-3-
Ć
i-ći
[a children's program] TV show and won a ticket for the Ninja Turtles.

It was Christmas yesterday. We went to M&M's (Martina and Matea's). It was wonderful. A big Christmas tree. Christmas presents and the proverbial Christmas table. And Bokica was there with Andrej. And there was a surprise. Srdjan phoned. Everyone was happy and sad at the same time. There we were all warm, surrounded by Christmas decorations and presents, with lots of wonderful food and drink in front of us. And there he was, like everybody else in Dubrovnik ... in a war. This war will pass, Srdjan, we'll all be together again! You've got to hold on!!! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you and for all the people and children in Dubrovnik.

It'll be New Year's Eve soon. The atmosphere seems different than before. Mommy, Daddy and our friends and family aren't planning a New Year's Eve party this year. They don't talk about it much. Is it because of the war in Dubrovnik? Is it some kind of fear? I don't know or understand a thing. Mommy says we'll decorate the tree tomorrow.

Today was my last day at music school this year. And school?! I'm hoping for straight As. YO, BABY, YO!, as The Fresh Prince of Bel Air would say. That's one of my favorite programs on TV. PHEW! I certainly do talk a lot. Just look at all these words.

PHEW!

Just one more thing: my class is going to the cinema tomorrow. We're going to see
White Fang.
It's a wonderful book by Jack London, I hope the film is as good.

Ciao!!!

We've decorated the tree. I went shopping with Mommy. We bought presents for the family and friends. We wrapped everything up nicely, wrote everyone a New Year's card and I laid them all out under the tree. Everything looks wonderful. Mommy is cooking, baking—there'll be all sorts of goodies. But I think everybody will be spending New Year's Eve at home.

Yes, I spent New Year's Eve AT HOME WITH MY MOMMY AND DADDY. It wasn't bad, just a bit odd. Happy New Year.

We were alone on New Year's Eve, but today the house is full of people. Lots of visitors, both “small” (my friends) and “big” (Mommy and Daddy's), as well as family. In the end it was fun.

We went to Jahorina yesterday. It's super there. We rode our sleds in the dark, fooled around, played Yatzee. It was great, really! But we didn't spend the night. Never mind, it doesn't matter.
The Witches of Eastwick
was on yesterday, with Cher, Michelle Pfeif-fer, Jack Nicholson and some actress whose name begins with an S.... S, s, s, s, s ... I just can't remember. And another thing. Jaca gave me a polka-dot cap and gloves for my New Year's present. They're so cute. Coochie-coochie-coo!!!

The cinema was an absolute fiasco. A disaster! Like seeing Jordan from NKOTB [New Kids on the Block]. First of all, we didn't see
White Fang,
we saw
My Brother Aleksa.
We could have survived this if someone hadn't been throwing paper and spitting from the balcony. Of course, I wouldn't be Zlata Filipović if I hadn't been sitting in the first row under that balcony! Naturally! Serves me right for sitting in the wrong place!

We just saw M&M and Neda off. AUHHHH! It's been a long day! I'm off to bed now, it's 11:10. I'm reading
Captain at Fifteen
by Jules Verne.

Everything is the same and keeps going in a circle (in my holiday life). Boredom, books, friends, phone calls and so on. I really do have to go to bed now! GOOD NIGHT AND SWEET DREAMS!

I yawned, opened my pen and started to write: I'm listening to the music from
Top Gun
on “Good Vibrations” (on the radio). Something else is on now. I've just destroyed the back page of
Bazaar
[the fashion magazine]. I talked to Mommy on the phone. She's at work.

I have something to tell you. Every night I dream that I'm asking Michael Jackson for his autograph, but either he won't give it to me or his secretary writes it, and then all the letters melt, because Michael Jackson didn't write them. Sad. Poor me. Ha, ha, ha, ha, I have to, ha, ha, ha, ha, laugh, ha, ha, ha, ha.

4:15. I was at Vanja and Andrej's (V&A). There was a bit of trouble at home because I stayed so long. But it took a long time to finish our game of Monopoly. Both Vanja and Andrej went bankrupt, and I had all the red notes (5,000 each). I had 12,000,000, to be exact. Mind you, I had the Place de Genève and Cote d'Azure.

Oops. There's
Bugs Bunny.
I've got to watch! 7:50. I'm watching DIAL MTV: 5. Pet Shop Boys with “Was It Worth It?” 4. I can't remember 3. Nirvana 2. Guns ‘n' Roses 1. New Kids on the Block.

I got up late. Mommy isn't feeling well. She didn't go to work today. Safia (the woman who helps in the house) came. I'm bored. When are we going to go to Jahorina?

9:55. I'm lying in bed. But not in my bed. THAT'S RIGHT. Dum-di-dum-di-dum. I'm on Jahorina. I've been here seven days now. I'm lying next to Oga. Listening to the buzzing of a boring fly and to the stove, and talking to Oga. We're talking the way we always do in this bed, in this room, on Jahorina.

I haven't written to you for a long time, dear Diary. As soon as I came I was really busy, skiing, nighttime skiing, ice-skating on “Boza's Trail,” building snowmen and snow houses. I simply didn't have time. We're all here: Oga, Branko, Svjetlana, Nenad, Bojan, Boris, Mirela, Anela, and, of course, me. You'll forgive me. I know you will. I promise to write more often.

Oga and I are making plans about which ski-lifts to take tomorrow: Ogorjelica I, Ogorjelica II, Å ator ... God, such a choice. I can hardly wait.

I'm sick. My throat hurts. I have a temperature. I was on fire. It's gone down a bit now, but I have a terrible cough.

I'm better today. I'm taking antibiotics, so I'll be OK. Now Boris is sick too, and Oga says her throat hurts. I didn't tell you that Svjetlana brought us the flu from Sarajevo. She went to the dentist's, “picked up” the flu and took it away with her. And now here she is on Jahorina. She got sick first, then me, and now Boris, maybe even Oga. So the flu has cut short our fun. That's not very nice of it.

We came back from Jahorina yesterday. I'm fine, but now Mommy is sick. She has a temperature and a cough. Daddy has a temperature too. I just have a cough. It's an epidemic.

School has started. Responsibilities ... I've just come back from music school. Well, it was OK, I guess.

I didn't tell you, dear Diary, that I have a notebook in which I paste fashion pictures. I have photos of Linda Evangelista, Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford, Yasmine Le Bon.

Daddy's all right now, but Mommy's still sick. She just isn't getting better. It looks like she's got pneumonia. She's taken sick leave. She's going around seeing doctors.

I've got my responsibilities—school, music lessons, I study, practice the piano and pray to God that Mommy gets well and that we go to Jahorina. This miserable flu has ruined everything.

Oh, God! Things are heating up in Sarajevo. On Sunday (March 1), a small group of armed civilians (as they say on TV) killed a Serbian wedding guest and wounded the priest. On March 2 (Monday) the whole city was full of barricades. There were “1,000” barricades. We didn't even have bread. At 6:00 people got fed up and went out into the streets. The procession set out from the cathedral. It went past the parliament building and made its way through the entire city. Several people were wounded at the Marshal Tito army barracks. People sang and cried “Bosnia, Bosnia,”“Sarajevo, Sarajevo,” “We'll live together” and “Come outside.”

Zdravko Grebo
²
said on the radio that history was in the making.