October 4
Life in the Von Trapp house is very plain. We never see father (we must call him that from now on based in his orders) anymore because he is always in his study and if we do see him, he doesn't talk to any of us. He completely ignores us. Last week I turned 12 and he completely forgot it was my birthday. Friedrich and Louisa remembered though and wrote me really pretty cards. Today was a very interesting day. It is Sunday and Marta, Brigitta, and Kurt were all telling me that they needed new clothes. I didn't know what to do, and I could tell Gretl, who now only sleeps in the girls room, need them too. When mother got sick about about a year ago, it was hard for her to go shopping for us, as she was barely able to get out of bed. All of us kids just felt with the clothes we had due to the fact then when I grew out of something, I would give it to Louisa, then she would pass it on to Brigitta, then Brigitta would give it to Marta. We had a lot of baby clothes stored for Gretl, but they were mostly for babies who were newborn to 6 months. For the boys, it was the same way. Friedrich would give his old clothes to kurt during this time. Nobody wanted to bother mother for new clothes because we all knew that she was sick. Sometimes, Father would give Friedrich and I money to go shopping, and we would buy new clothes for everyone. But now, we all needed new clothes. While Gretl, Marta, Brigitta, and Kurt were taking a nap and Louisa and Friedrich were playing a board game, I went downstiars to fathers study and knocked on the door. He said enter, so slowly I opened the door. He was reading a book, and so quietly, I closed the door. "Yes" he said to me without looking up. "Well father, I was wondering..." I was really nervous and didn't know what to say. "What Liesl? What do you need? As you can see I am very busy." He said as he closed his book and looked at me. "Some of us are growing out of our clothes and we need some new clothes. Do you think you could buy us some?" I ask politely. "I already have" he said as he showed me 7 bags of clothes with a name on it for each child. "I know your sizes and I got you all new clothes. You must throw out you old ones, and only wear these from now on, even to school. The outfits inside the bags should never get dirty, do you understand? Now, please leave me." He said as he opened back up his book." I walked upstairs and opened up all of the bags to find a whole new wardrobe. The housekeeper came up stairs to help me put everything away, and get rid off all of our old clothes. In each bag were seven grey and blue matching uniforms. The girls, besides Gretl had 7 skirts and tops, 3 pieces of blue hair ribbon, 7 pairs of white tights and 2 pairs of white flats. The boys had 7 tops and shorts, 7 pairs of high white socks and 2 white sneakers. Also, each bag contained 14 different dinner outfits,and 7 pairs of shoes that matched, along with 4 pairs of pajamas. The girls had the same pairs of pjs and the boys had the same pairs of pjs. In Gretl's bag was 7 grey and blue onesies, 3 blue headpieces, 2 pairs of white flats, 14 nice dresses, 7 pairs of shoes to match, and 4 pairs of pajama. Then, Friedrich and Louisa walked in and saw all the clothes. I explained everything to them and then the little kids walked in, who must have just woken up from their naps, and we explained it to them as well. It was weird seeing the looks on their faces when I explained that they couldn't get anything thing dirty and that they had to change before dinner and so on. The housekeeper and I put away the clothes in each of the kids drawers. Then, we were all called down to dinner. Dinner proceed as usual, except this time, we were all wearing very nice clothes, even baby Gretl. After dinner, for the first time in almost a moth, father talked. We all looked at him with wide eyes as if we were unfamiliar with his voice. He spoke sternly, and slowly to make sure that each word he said was etched into our brains. Father started to tell all of us about his new system around the house. Everybody must answer to a whistle. No more nicknames, or our actual names, only whistles. He took us into the entrance hall, and he told us where to stand, how to stand, and how to answer to his calls. He told us that we must always answer and if we don't, we will be punished. He told us that we all must line up in front of our rooms, and then "March" down together. Marta, who would be turning 3 in a few weeks, didn't understand, and as a result, I picked her up to stop her from what could be come crying. Father noticed this action of mine, and started yelling at everyone. He screamed about how we need to give him respect. How he is our father, and we need to be grateful. All of this yelling then caused Brigitta to run to me and grab my waist. Annoyed with how his children were acting, father sent us all to bed without another word. When we got up to our room, I once again got everybody ready for bed. Louisa and Friedrich came into my room just as I was putting the little girls to sleep. I told them to meet me in the bathroom. Then, I went and kissed Kurt goodnight, grabbed Gretl who started to cry, and went into the bathroom. The bathroom was how the two bed rooms connected. The bathroom had 2 bathtubs, 3 showers, 3 toilets and 3 sinks. In the bathroom, we talked we all sat on the floor and talked about the day. We then decided that we were going to make the best out of the situation, and would try to get fathers attention in any way possible. Then, we heard footsteps approaching the bathroom. There was a nock on the door from the girls side, and slowly, I said, come in. Father stepped into the bathroom, looked at us, and then left. Then, we all rushed back to out beds. I do not want father to catch me writing so I must go to bed.