Show W By IRIS SYN We read a lot these days about sibling rivalry It is generally agreed that if it you have a family with more than one child youre you're going to have trouble We read too about the problem of the middle child who has a rough go of it Im I'm sorry I didn't know about that when I was a kid I could have kid hid a lot of sympathy I missed because because because be be- cause I I. I was a middle child and a lot than most I 1 had three older sisters and anda a brother and two sisters s who were younger I knew I was picked on on-I on I said so often at atthe atthe atthe the top of my voice voice but but I had no magazine articles to tell me nie how picked on I really was NOR HAD MY sisters and I ever heard of sibling rivalry rivalry although although we may have invented it We fought loudly endlessly and with no holts barred I had one sister sixteen months my elder who was my most frequent sparring partner One day I had a jumping rope she sh-r thought belonged to her I thought other wise She got it away from me after a tug tug- war of-war that lasted fifteen minutes and left leftus leftus leftus us both and breathless But I got in the last lick Literally I hauled off and fetched her a blow in the stomach that knocked the wind out of her And when sh she got it back man back man I Mother came running run ning convinced one of us had been at least killed and if Id I'd been bigger one of us would woul have ON ANOTHER day my edest sister had just finished sweeping the kitchen floor when I came into the house Lovable child that I was I trailed railed both feet through her carefully care fully stacked dirt Remembering the incident incident inci dent she he maintains she caught re me after alter a aI I 1 few laps around the house and let me have it with a broom but my memory says I got away from her Im I'm alive to prove it it Although recalling other sisterly squabbles squabbles squabbles squab squab- bles I dont don't know how I made it At the climax of a dinner table battle one day a sister threw a fork at me I dont don't remember why but she was probably justified The fork stuck in my forehead and ed there bringing instant wrath on my sister and bellows from me I always took full advantage advantage ad ad- vantage of a situation like that MY JUST OLDER sister and I shared a abed abed abed bed in a bedroom that had never heard of central heating In Jn the winter it was COLD COLDin in there One January night I went to sleep mad at my sister I usually was but for some forgotten reason I was madder that night than usual I woke up early with vengeance on my mind and I got it Looking around I hit on a perfectly enchanting en chanting idea I got both hands on the icy iron bedstead and held them there until they were good and frigid Then I slipped those cold hands under the covers and put them right in the middle of my sisters sister's warm back SHE SIZE SAYS now-and now after all aU these years she can even manage a small laugh- laugh that she set a record for lor getting out of bed never equalled lIed before or since She also set seta a record for beating the tar out of me We Wo lived through our sibling rivalries with only a few scars here and there AndIn And AndIn Andin In spite of the loud and frequent battles we had as children or Just or-Just just maybe maybe because because of them we are now a close and loving family I remind myself elf of that when 1 separate my own J t r 1 |