Safe for the present behind the little door and its concealing bookcase, you and your friends read every book you can find and hold long, whispered conversations. To keep your sanity while you are cooped up, you construct elaborate plans for the future. Sometimes these plans depress you, but fantasy seems the only way to keep your grip on reality.
One night, Mr. Drent opens the door to the hiding place and warns you. There is a story circulating in town that Heinrich Himmler, Hitler's second-in-command, had planned a mass deportation of Dutch Jews, but his doctor, Felix Kersten, a man Himmler trusts, has convinced him to change those plans. Nevertheless, Mr. Drent is convinced that a major hunt for hidden Jews is planned in the near future. He thinks you had better make new arrangements since some neighbors might already know about your existence in this house.
If you decide to find a new hiding place within Amsterdam, continue to page 54.
If you think you ought to get out of the city and take your chances in the countryside, continue to page 55.