Girl by Jamaica Kincaid

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 buttonhole for the button you have just sewed on;

this is how to hem a dress when you see the hem coming down and to prevent yourself from looking like the slut 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 at 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 swat 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 ?