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Girls
| Wash the white clothes on
Monday and put them on the stone heap; wash the color clothes on
Tuesday and put them on the clothesline to dry; don't walk
barehead in the hot sun; cook pumpkin
fritters in very hot sweet oil; soak your little cloths right
after you take them off; when buying cotton to make yourself a nice
blouse, be sure that it doesn't have gum on it, because that way it
won't hold up well after a wash; soak salt fish overnight before you
cook it; is it true that you sing
benna in Sunday school?; always eat your food in such a way that
it won't turn someone else's stomach; on Sundays try to walk like a
lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming; don't sing
benna in Sunday school; you mustn't speak to wharf-rat boys, not
even to give directions; don't eat fruits on the street--flies will
follow you; but I don't sing
benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school; this is how
to sew on a button; this is how to make a hole for the button you
have just sewed on; this is how to
hem a dress when you see the hem coming down and so to prevent
yourself from looking like the slut I know you are so bent on
becoming; this is how you iron your father's khaki shirt so that it
doesn't have a
crease; this is how you iron your father's khaki pants so that
they don't have a
crease; this is how you grow
okra--far from the house, because
okra tree harbors red ants; when you are growing
dasheen, make sure it gets plenty of water or else it makes your
throat itch when you are eating it, this is how you sweep a corner;
this is how you sweep a whole house; this is how you sweep a yard;
this is how you smile to someone you don't like very much; this is
how you smile to someone you don't like at all; this is how you
smile to someone you like completely; this is how you set a table
for tea; this is how you set a table for dinner; this is how you set
a table for dinner with an important guest; this is how you set a
table for lunch; this is how you set a table for breakfast; this is
how to behave in the presence of men who don't know you very well,
and this way they won't recognize immediately the slut I have warned
you against becoming; be sure to wash every day, even if it is with
your own spit; don't squat down to play marbles--you are not a boy,
you know; don't pick people's flowers--you might catch something;
don't throw stones at blackbirds, because it might not be a
blackbird at all; this is how to make a bread pudding; this is how
to make
doukona; this is how to make pepper pot; this is how to make a
good medicine for a cold; this is how to make a good medicine to
throw away a child before it even becomes a child; this is how to
catch a fish; this is how to throw back a fish you don't like, and
that way something bad won't fall on you; this is how to bully a
man; this is how a man bullies you; this is how to love a man, and
if this doesn't work there are other ways, and if they don't work
don't feel too bad about giving up; this is how to spit up in the
air if you feel like it, and this is how to move quick so that it
doesn't fall on you; this is how to
make ends meet; always squeeze bread to make sure it's fresh;
but what if the baker won't let me feel the bread?; you mean to say
that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the
baker won't let near the bread? |
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