The twins’ competitive streak drove them to excel in spelling, swimming… and bickering
BY REBECCA RAISIN
For as long as I can remember, my mama Sofia and aunt Ophelia, identical twins, have been in fierce competition with each other.
The way Mama tells it, it started when they were ten years old. The rainy season had come to an end, and with the soft spring sunshine came a new teacher at their small village school on the island of Santorini.
This teacher was so different to the others. She dressed in bright clothes, wore her hair in plaits and brought fruit for the children for morning tea.
On her very first day, she laid down a challenge for her students. Whoever aced the spelling test at the end of the week would win a prize and the glory of being called Spelling Bee Master.
The idea of winning inflamed the twins. Aunt Ophelia suggested they study the spelling words together, but Mama refused. There was no way she was helping her sister potentially win!
This slight only made Aunt Ophelia even more determined to triumph.
When the big day came along, Aunt Ophelia awoke early and revised once more. Instead of walking to school with her sister along the coastal path by the rippled blue of the Aegean Sea, she walked alone, taking a shortcut through an olive grove.
Mama awoke late, missing the regular not-so-gentle nudge from her twin, telling her to get ready. She skipped breakfast and rushed to get ready for school, arriving unkempt and hungry as the bell sounded.
Sabotage, she said to Aunt Ophelia at the school gate.
Laziness, retorted Ophelia.
Aunt Ophelia aced the spelling test. She crowed as she claimed her prize, a box of sugary sweet loukoumades.
This was the first time in their ten-year-old lives one girl had something that the other didn’t, and no matter how much begging Mama did, Aunt Ophelia wouldn’t share her prize.
As delicious as the loukoumades were, it wasn’t so much about them, it was about the glory. It was about winning. One-upping their other half, the identical twin whom no-one, not even their parents on a few occasions, could distinguish from the other.
Vowing she’d never lose again, the following week Mama won the spelling test, taking home an even grander prize of honey baklava which she refused to share with her sister.
Revenge was sweet. Mama took great delight in parading around their small, blue-domed house and waving her gift as Aunt Ophelia had d
