| 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 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? |