fiction excerpt: the labeller

winner of the neilma sidney short story prize

My story, written about identity, sexuality and nepotism in women’s elite basketball, was selected from over 400 entries to win Overland’s Neilma Sidney 2021 Short Story Prize.

↳ excerpt:

i am in a world of women and they are everything.

That is why I carry the labeller with me, so I can allocate each woman to their rightful place. It is a secret thing, the labeller, small enough to hide in the palm of my hand or tuck into the front flap of a basketball bag. It prints little tags of invisible plastic that adhere neatly to the forehead. Sometimes, after I have slept with someone, and they already have a forehead label, I glue the new classification over their breasts while they sleep. Other times, I just stick over it.

The label is soft in its rigidity. It cannot be physically felt by any of the women, only sensed.

My aunt is the head of the professional league. She is very handsome. I think people are generally scared of her. She has a silken, undulating voice that is intimidating in its charisma. When I am thirteen, she gifts me the labeller. The first proper label I give out is mentor. It is to the primary selector of the junior state team, in the lead up to the national tournament. This selector is gorgeous: dark eyes, dark hair, smooth smile. She is the one who pushes me forward. She witnesses the talent I have inside me.

She says: Your coach rang to tell me not to pick you.

She says: She insisted it would be irresponsible of me because you’re not emotionally mature enough.

Her laughter is loud as she tells us this over dinner at my aunt’s house. She splinters open the sausage with her knife and slides the insides of it into her mouth. She used to watch my aunt on the television when she was a kid. She is now a good family friend.

She says: I told her to get fucked.