13 days of life at sea, nothing in sight but an endless expanse of water, not a single flower, nor a blade of grass. Boring. But today we were to see dry land! Early in the morning, right after breakfast, I rushed on deck to see what I have not seen for 13 days. I was sure those with diplomatic passports would to be allowed to leave the ship. But in the end, like everybody else, we waited and we waited–in vain. Getting sleepy. Nothing to do but go below and take a nap. Waking up, I ran back up onto the deck and finally saw it—an endless expanse of dry land.
An Endless Expanse of Ocean

This evening I went with Huang___ to see ____who told us she was going to sing with a boy at a musical performance tonight and she was terrified.

A Small Joke

There once was a certain mischievous student. The classroom he was in was downstairs and connected from the upstairs classroom by a chimney. Down this chimney it was possible to sweep the trash from upstairs to downstairs. On this day this mischief maker tossed some papers onto the face of the teacher. The teacher was speechless with anger. The mischievous one said, “That student upstairs is so obnoxious. Always sweeping papers down the chimney.” The teacher ran upstairs and expelled the student.

Today was a most unfortunate day. Two boys fell and hurt their mouths. Blood ran all over the floor.

At night saw a movie in which there were two stories. Both were about the need for belief. The first was about a woman who felt herself to be ugly. An old person took her to a shop where she was given a beautiful mask to wear. After that the woman believed that she was indeed beautiful.
A terrible drawing.

In the second story there was a person who went to a palm reader. The palm reader told him that he was going to kill someone. Originally he had no wish to kill anyone, but after seeing the palm reader, he felt that he was fated to kill someone, so he murdered the fortune teller.

Today waged another battle with Jacky over the robbery of my metal chain. Result: victory.

Last night a sister died. (on our ship)

1945. 2.14

Tonight saw a movie, Man of Boys Town. Cried from  beginning to end. Really sad. The story was about two schools, one called Boys Town and the other, Reform School. Boys Town was run by a good priest and was an extremely nice place. The other place was bad, very bad. It was only after lots of grief that the bullies were defeated.

Not until today did I know the name of this ship: USS George M. Randall.I am dying for some jook (rice gruel), pickled mustard root, stir fries, and other small delicacies.Drawing food satisfies the mouth.Drawing bread fills the stomach.

1945.2.15

This morning Miss Huang gave me a book. I was so happy to see that it was the book I had lost a few days ago, Arabian Nights.

Inside there was a photo of me and that is how Miss Huang knew the book was mine. A soldier had found it. I ran quickly to the office to thank that soldier.

These are pictures my German friend, Earl Fabritz C drew.

Betty drew these for me.

Another is a dot in a circle with one stroke of the pen.

1945,2.16

Tonight before the movie mixed breed westerners about 20 or 30 years old, 3 grownups raised a ruckus over Betty trying to save a seat for her mother. The mixed breeds said Chinese children do not have the right to occupy chairs. Betty then said no children are allowed to sit in chairs but she was holding the seat for someone else. So the argument started. 3 grownups could not match 2 children. They waited till Betty’s little sister, 5 year old Mary passed by and kicked her to the floor making her cry. That pocked marked devil was then very proud of herself, thinking that she had won a victory.

Exceedingly beautiful compared to pock-marked devil with her self satisfied expression.

Miss Thousand pieces of Gold (extremely precious)
A Million Holes in her Disguise

1945,2,17

Good luck! Have been dying for chewing gum for days. Today got some.  ___ gave me a piece. I was going to glue the wrapper on this paper, but obnoxious Little Brother Liu tore it in half. So I gave one half to Betty.

Afternoon another cannon drill. I was very happy that I’d have a chance to get a balloon. So Betty and I raced up to the deck just as they shot off a volley of cannon shots. Such a thundering shock that my nose almost stopped breathing. A bunch of shots later there were only four balloons left. I was on the point of grabbing one when a blast of smoke came at us. We hit the deck. Getting up we saw that it had been a misfire. Probably smoke had gotten into the eyes of the gunner and blinded him. So the four balloons were still there. We all fought to get them. I grabbed one—a big red one still filled with helium. I put it on my bed. Again that Little Brother Liu! Let all the helium out. How I hate him! I was hoping to keep the balloon all the way to America.

1945,2,18

In the morning on deck ran into a soldier who gave us a whole pack of gum; by evening we had finished chewing all of it. In bible class my little brother grabbed my balloon and broke it. I was furious. Instead of scolding him, Mami (my mother) scolded me. Little Brother not only did not say he was sorry but kicked me in the shin.

Tonight’s movie was about a person who was extremely good. Someone robbed him of US$20 but the good man really didn’t care. This was just like Little Brother. The good man was beaten almost to death. In the end the bunch of friends who had robbed him of the money was so moved by his goodness that they changed for the better.

At night just before going to bed, I went into the hall to get a drink of water. At the fountain was a person with a man’s short haircut who turned and gave me a smile. I didn’t recognize him. It took me a long while to realize that the person was the sister.

1945.2.19

I am so happy Miss Stephens is going to teach me how to carve an elephant.

1945.2.19

Today Miss Stephens promised to teach me and Betty to carve things from soap. So I got a dime from Mami and bought two pieces of soap. First we had to shave the soap and then sand it, so we two set to shaving and then after shaving, sanding. We were covered with sweat from all the hard work. It took half a day of sanding before we were done. I was so happy. I hope tomorrow we can finish carving the elephant. Next class I will propose carving Mickey Mouse, of course better than this drawing.

I will ask Miss Stephens to draw one for me.