On Thursday morning, Hanneke’s father comments how nice it is to see her “socializing,” and Hanneke reflects on how long it’s been since she had a circle of friends. In her room, she looks over Mirjam’s belongings and finds a note folded in the shape of a star. It is addressed to Elizabeth from Margaret and talks about a crush on a boy, “T.” Hanneke wonders who these girls are and why the note is among Mirjam’s things. Seeing evidence of this close friendship between girls, she reveals Elsbeth’s fate: “Elsbeth isn’t dead. Elsbeth is living twenty minutes away, with a German soldier. She says she loves him” (104).

Hanneke talks her way into the Schouwburg Theater and is shocked by the smell of urine, excrement, and “some other indefinable odor” (107). Judith drags her out and introduces her to her cousin, Mina. Both girls have had jobs at the theater, organized by their uncle, a member of the Jewish Council. Mina works at the nursery and invites Hanneke to go with her on a walk with one of the infants. Mina is eager to chat and befriend Hanneke and tells her that Margaret and Elizabeth are Mirjam and her best friend,