Free Zlata's Diary by Zlata Filipovic

used to us. Bojana and I hold her in our lap, stroke her and she purrs. That means she likes it, she’s happy. She must be lucky. Who knows whether she’d still be alive. She could have been hit by shrapnel, or died of hunger or been attacked by a stray dog. Nedo really did a good deed there. So, now we have a new member in this family we call THE NEIGHBORHOOD. Ciao!
    Zlata

Saturday, July 18, 1992
    Dear Mimmy,
    I forgot to tell you that a few days ago two girls moved into the apartment next door. They’re called Emina and Samra. They’re super. Emina is like Mommy, they like the same colors, they like clothes and both, I have to say, are panicky. Samra is a refugee from Grbavica and she left everything behind. She’s taking it all pretty well. Her mother died a few years ago, maybe that’s why she’s strong and can put up with all this more easily. Emina’s sister is married to Samra’s brother. Their names are Alma and Kemo. They have an eight-year-old boy named Haris and a two-and-a-half-year-old little girl named Nejra. Samra and Emina talk about Nejra all the time, how cute and talkative she is. I’d really like to meet her.
    Ciao!
Zlata

Monday, July 20, 1992
    Dear Mimmy,
    Since I’m in the house all the time, I watch the world through the window. Just a piece of the world.
    There are lots of beautiful pedigree dogs roaming the streets. Their owners probably had to let them go because they couldn’t feed them anymore. Sad. Yesterday I watched a cocker spaniel cross the bridge, not knowing which way to go. He was lost. He wanted to go forward, but then he stopped, turned around and looked back. He was probably looking for his master. Who knows whether his master is still alive? Even animals suffer here. Even they aren’t spared by the war.
    Ciao!
Zlata

Sunday, July 26, 1992
    Dear Mimmy,
    Braco Lajtner was here yesterday. He brought us letters from Keka, Martina and Matea. They’re really unhappy at being separated from Braco, and we all cried when we read the letters. Even Daddy. Wartime life is hard, but so is refugee life.
    Martina and Matea have made some new friends, and Martina went to the Guns ‘n’ Roses concert in Budapest.
    So far I’ve read the following books: Mommy I Love You, Little Toto, Ringo Starr, The Twilight of the Geniuses, Hajduk in Belgrade, Follow Me, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole. Nice!
    Braco, Mommy’s brother, has left the hospital and is staying with Grandma and Granddad. He feels much better, both physically and mentally.
    The neighborhood community center is organizing a summer school. I’ve signed up for English, computer studies and music, but Bojana is just taking computer studies.
    Mommy saw Mislo, Mirna’s daddy today. He says they’re all right, that Mirna is spending her time the same as me. If only we could see each other.
    The Security Council is hopeless. It makes no reasonable decisions at all.
    Your Zlata

Wednesday, July 29, 1992
    Dear Mimmy,
    Mommy came home from work in tears today. She had very, very sad news. Mladjo (Srdjan’s brother) was killed in front of his house yesterday. The funeral was today, she read it in the papers, but it was too late. Awful. What’s happening here is unbelievable. People are getting killed, disappearing, being buried, and their closest friends can’t even attend the funeral. Only Seka (Bokica’s sister) was there. Srdjan and his parents are in Dubrovnik, and Mladjo’s wife and three children, Maja, Bojana and NebojÅ¡a, are in Montenegro. They don’t even know that he’s dead. And who knows when they’ll hear the sad news, because Sarajevo is cut off from the rest of the world. The phones aren’t working. God, what is happening?
    Bojana, Maja and NebojÅ¡a have lost their daddy. A disgusting war has taken their daddy from them. Sad, awfully sad. Mladjo was a wonderful man. Love,
    Zlata

Tuesday, August 4, 1992
    Dear