Season 10 of CBS’s reality series “Big Brother” has lately been chewing up three hours a week of my valuable time. I wonder if relatives of George Orwell, creator of the Big Brother concept in his novel 1984, receive any royalties from CBS. They should. If not for Orwell’s futuristic “Big Brother is Watching You” mantra, the show would be named something like “Window Peeper,” or “Peek-a-boo. I see you!”---neither of which have much appeal.Of course, before I ever became familiar with Orwell’s novel as a teen, the term Big Brother just meant Beans, my elder sibling by almost three years. He never failed to remind me of his superiority. In the earliest picture I have of us together (above), you can already tell he is plotting devious designs against me. (“I can’t wait to singe that hair right off your head!”--which he and my older sister actually did, according to family legend, although I have no recollection of the dirty deed.)
Eventually, though, I made efforts to get even. I never failed to remind him what a pain in the ass I could be to him. Hmmm. Might make a good plot for a TV sit-com. “Little Sister.” (Subtitled: “Little Sister is Watching You--Get More Agitated by the Minute.”)
Since I knew Beans loathed me, I’d do all I could to get his attention. My typical modus operandi, as I grew older, was to dart into his bedroom when he was, say, reading a comic book or counting his baseball cards, catching him off guard. I’d whack him a good one, then dash back out to the bathroom around the corner and snap the lock shut so he couldn’t retaliate. I’d be safely giggling behind the door, rubbing it in that he’d been had.
Of course, most of the time he was the aggressor and I was the punching bag. We couldn’t even play a simple game of slap jack without it turning into a fight. If I’d get in the first slap on the cards, which was rare, he’d double up a fist and pound it on my outstretched hand. If I was winning in Monopoly, he’d steal from the bank and suddenly come up loaded. If I had the lead in Scrabble, “Oops!”--he’d upset all the letters on the board so we’d have to start over.
--Come to think of it, Beans deserved every cheap shot I could deliver! I wished I’d gotten in more.
4 comments:
Ahh sibling beatings. The memories. One time I hit Lacey in the eye with a baton. She still reminds me. But I too was usually the punching bag.
I use to beat up my brother all the time, until he got older and returned the favor. I even broke his wrist once.
Tim Hortons is chain of coffee/tea/donut/bagel stores in Canada. Its kinda like a Starbucks but their coffee is much much better!!
Love the pics & you brought back such good memories of sibling rivalry!! My sis may have been younger, but there's no denying she was tougher. My best revenge had to have been when she was sun tanning & I ran over her w/ my bike! We love eachother now though ;)
Ah, the beauty of being an only child!! Marrying an only child and having an only child.
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