Under the Phillip Island moon, the net swarmed with fat crawling crabs.
There are numerous famous stories depicting sibling rivalry. The biblical story of Cain and Abel, Ann and Mary Boleyn who fought over King Henry VIII’s affections and, of course, the most famous Hollywood rivalry, Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland, with Joan famously saying, “She will be jealous if she dies before me”. And that, Joan did.
It has been said that competition for a parent’s affection is steeped in competition for resources. This is evident in the animal kingdom, where the strongest sibling is known to kill their weaker brother or sister to gain resources such as food. And behaviourists have found that we share strong links with animals when it comes to sibling rivalry.
The fallout from a broken sibling relationship can be devastating, and awkward. When ties break, the animosity hangs in the air, each too proud to admit the other was wrong. Or maybe, the relationship is best left severed. I know because it happened to me. In any family, if you begin to scratch the surface, before too long you might unveil some sort of sibling rivalry between your own family members who haven’t spoken to each other in decades. And it is usually over something petty. And sometimes, not. Could it be that the only thing we have in common is DNA? Or perhaps we should listen to the famous proverb, you can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family.
And the winner is…
by Nat V
And the winner is… is a personal short story about sibling rivalry as children that evolves into estrangement as adults.
Acknowledgements:
A special thank you to guest presenter, Amanda Miha.
This episode was written and produced by Nat V.
And the winner is was written, produced, edited and performed by Nat V.
Music in this episode, “Waste of a Sunset” by Julie Maxwell and “Into Toast Squares” by Mole.
Illustrations by Peta Manning. Her book, See Me Doodle, is out now.
Sound effects used in this episode by:
6polnic
btherad2000
13FPanska_Stranska_Michaela
xtrgamr
carlito62
potok_potoczny
JarAxe
petenice
chrisbeckstrom
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Accepting submissions until 30 July 2017 (Extended)
If you have a story under 400 words about a moment, perhaps your first day of school and how everything went terribly wrong, or the moment you left a terrible relationship, click here to find out how you can submit your work and you can also subscribe to our mailing list and be the first to know when our episode drops.