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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
In the following narrative a young mother from the working-class community of South Baltimore recalls an incident that occurred when she was in junior high school:
When I got free lunch, you know, we went through the cafeteria, and the group in the table would all stand up and say, “You got free lunch tickets” [singsong intonation], you know, and they, all of em around the room start hittin the tables and everythin. And I would stand up and I says, “Well, well, you all think you're really teasin somebody. At least I know I'm agettin somethin free and youse ain't. Hahaha. What do you think of that?” And they shut their mouths, boy.
They did. And the ladies that give the food out, they just laughin their tails off back there. They say, “Did you hear that little girl, she stood up there.” And I sit down and I says, “You see, I'm gonna enjoy my free lunch.” I was eatin, boy, eatin.
And I says, “I even got 15 cents to buy me a fudge bar” [laughs]. They come in there with boloney sandwiches in them bags. I'd say, “You can eat that stale boloney. I'm gettin jello on the side of my plate” [laughs].
Nora tells this tale with pride and pleasure. Her proficiency in the art of teasing enabled her to outwit her peers and to transform a potentially painful experience into an occasion for self-display.
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