For legal purposes, my father's parents never married and little Shulem and his two siblings—Rivka, who was older, and his younger brother Itsik—were officially considered to be illegitimate children. 

I especially admired my Uncle Itsik, or Itshe, as we called him. He was young and strong and we would roughhouse together. Sometimes he would pass me a piece of hard candy on the sly, like my mother shouldn't know about it.