Page 351 - Wordsmith A Guide to College Writing

superstitions, the amulets and incantations she learned from her
mother and taught me.

I don’t mean to suggest that I grew up in an occult atmosphere. On 2

the contrary, my mother desperately wanted me to rise above her

immigrant ways and become an educated American. She tried to hide

her superstitions, but I came to know them all: Slap a girl’s cheeks
when she first gets her period. Never take a picture of a pregnant

woman. Knock wood when speaking about your good fortune. Eat the

ends of bread if you want to have a boy. Don’t leave a bride alone on

her wedding day.

When I was growing up, my mother would often tiptoe in after I 3
seemed to be asleep, making odd noises that sounded like a cross

between sucking and spitting. One night I opened my eyes and

demanded an explanation. Embarrassed, she told me she was

exorcising the “Evil Eye”—in case I had attracted its attention that day

by being especially wonderful. She believed her kisses could suck out
any envy or ill will that those less fortunate may have directed at her

child.

By the time I was in my teens, I was almost on speaking terms with 4

the Evil Eye, a jealous spirit that kept track of those who had “too
much” happiness and zapped them with sickness and misery to even

the score. To guard against this mischief, my mother practiced rituals

of interference, evasion, deference, and above all, avoidance of

situations where the Evil Eye might feel at home.