Mary Louise Rothwell -- 10 december 1942

• Mary Louise Rothwell hield na de aanval op Pearl Harbor enige tijd een dagboek bij.

Wednesday, December 10
Today mother, Matah and I went down to the market. The place was simply mobbed. We were lucky enough to get there rather early, so we could go right in. Some people coming a little later had to wait in line outside, because the clerks would allow only a certain number of people in at a time. We got all we wanted, except rice, sugar, flour, and bread. There was a great deal of canned food, but the staples had been cleaned right out. The perishables, especially milk, are not hard to get at all; in fact, there is a surplus of fresh milk.

There were so many people in the place that Matah almost fainted. She got weak and had to sit down and drink some ice water. Finally I helped her out to the car and took her place in line.

Mother bought yards and yards of blue denim at Ireton’s. She got it to lightproof some rooms, so that we wouldn’t have to sit in the dark night after night. This afternoon she and I fixed the study, her bedroom, and my bedroom. It’s really grand, because it shuts out light but lets in air. The one drawback is that during the day we can’t take off the denim shades without prying off all the tacks. Oh well, it’s worth it.

Frank volunteered for coast Guard duty and went down this afternoon to get his identification papers and such. He’s going out tonight with George Stepp and a C.G. crew on the Ahi. Apparently he is to get his breakfasts and dinners from the Coast Guard. Well, he got into the CG service sooner than he expected! Mother is rather worried about him; but she says that we all have to do our part. Besides, Frank and Bob would be doing the very same thing if they were here; and if each one of us said, "My life is too precious to risk," we would all be so soft that we would be beaten completely.

This afternoon from 3 to 3:15 we had a practice air-raid alarm and all the Coast Artillery guns fired a few shots for testing. It really didn’t affect us much, because we were in the house anyway; however, the radio announcers ordered everyone under cover. We just went about our business (inside the house, of course) and 15 minutes later the radio announced that the "air-raid" was over.

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