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Girl
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 button-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 too 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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