Girl

                       Short story- A 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 bare-head 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 
in 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 buttonhole 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? 
https://www.yourquote.in/urvashiii
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