As for my family history, I experienced very little first hand. But like the stone and sand and dirt that comprise the history of New York City, it was something I understood. And little by little, I came to know the details, the most important of which was that Marly and I were not the bastard son and daughter of Lily and Leonard—though “bastard” does somehow seem to describe what we were. Because although Lily and Leonard were married, they were also brother and sister. Which would indicate that regardless of their marital status we were, in many ways, illegitimate.

That was a word I’d have no problem living up to. A word which, once I was able to give voice to it, seemed to define me. And soon afterwards it would define Marly as well.

Although I must admit that Marly’s fall from legitimacy was all my doing. Just as our mother’s fall was perhaps the responsibility of our father. And the result of his learning the difference between right and wrong.

Because it was on the day after his fourteenth birthday that Leonard, my father, followed his sister, Lily, into the bathroom as she went to take a shower. She was getting ready for a date with Jimmy, her boyfriend at the time. All the while Leonard had been telling jokes, teasing her, trying to hold her up so she’d be late. He thought it would be even more amusing to have Jimmy get there to pick her up and find that she hadn’t even gotten out of the shower yet. Jimmy would have to sit downstairs with Grandma and Grandpa as they questioned him about his plans for the future. And, more importantly, his intentions as far as Lily was concerned. These were tough questions for Jimmy, who at twenty was a little too old and experienced, or so my grandparents thought, to be seeing a girl of sixteen like Lily.

Despite his age, Jimmy was still in high school, having had to repeat both eighth and ninth grades. School had become too difficult for him at that point, with algebra, biology, and history being beyond his understanding. But when Jimmy became a star player on the varsity football team, teachers were told to go easy on him.

Like almost anywhere else in the world, sports meant something to people there. Almost more than war, they were what made a man a man—at least in the eyes of most people. Because war was something that was best left forgotten. Something to be studied by intellectuals—those dour, bespectacled creatures whose primary emotions were self righteousness and a detached sense of pity for those surrounding them. Sports were for everyone else. They made for more pleasant memories, and people there needed something to remember.

For the moment Jimmy was what they remembered. On Sunday mornings after church it was always, “Good Lord, that was a glorious game yesterday, Jimmy Boy.” On Monday mornings in school it was always, “Hey, Jimmy, you were, like, possessed on Saturday!”

He was a piece of work, Jimmy, the kid who was as strong as an ox and as fast as a horse. Lily’s eyes would light up as she walked down the halls with him. She would carry her head a little higher, her breasts heaving as her arms swayed beside her. Lily, one of the prettiest and liveliest of the girls, thought he was quite a prize.

Leonard, however, thought that Jimmy was something else altogether. That he was a false hero, a pathetic clown in a champion’s body. Leonard thought Lily should be seeing someone as smart as she was. Someone who could see that she was something more than a cheerleader. Someone who could make her laugh and dance and sing as she and Leonard had done since their brother Lemuel was born.

Because when their brother—my uncle Lemuel—was born, Lily and Leonard became best friends. They began to like the same television shows, the same songs on the radio. They spent all their free time alone, as if there were no one in the world but them. Because alone they were king and queen of a universe they themselves had created.

When Lily got older and developed an interest in the world around her, Leonard got jealous. Until Jimmy came along the world offered nothing that could compete with him; and having Jimmy rise from the depths to become his most formidable opponent seemed absurd. Because Leonard, the consummate romantic and genius of their universe, was her true inspiration. All Jimmy had going for him, Leonard thought, was his talent for playing a fool’s game—take that away and you had a dull, humorless boy who didn’t know the difference between a good time and a bad time.

But despite his deficiencies, Jimmy played a prominent role in the outside world. It was what made him seem like a prize to Lily. Tall and blonde, he was one of those people who, upon hitting a streak of good luck, would never lose it, would never have to work very hard to keep it. While Leonard, despite his many talents, was of those people who would never really make it in the world.

“I’m thinking of letting Jimmy go all the way tonight,” Lily told Leonard on the day he followed her into the bathroom.

Not taking her comment seriously at first, Leonard simply shrugged it off. But when she insisted she was going to go through with it he shut the bathroom door behind them.

“It’ll be wonderful,” Lily said to Leonard. And though she truly believed it would be, she was also trying to provoke him. To goad him into speaking or into taking action. She wasn’t sure which.

“No, it’ll be terrible,” Leonard argued as he put the cover down on the toilet and sat down. “He won’t know what to do. He’ll be fumbling around like the stupid brute that he is.”

“Well I think he’ll be gentle,” Lily answered as she turned to the mirror. Then she faced Leonard again. “He’ll start like this.”

Lily pulled the ribbons from her hair and shook her head until her long blonde ponytails fell apart like a wave over her shoulders.

“And he’ll know just how to undress me.”

She smiled, darting her tongue over her lips then stretching her arms, letting her bathrobe fall to the floor. She was the first girl Leonard had ever seen naked. Her body, to him, seemed like nothing less than a great gift from god. And when she stepped into the shower he had no choice but to take off his clothes and follow her inside.

He watched as Lily soaped up her body, rubbing her hands over her full breasts, sometimes stopping to pinch her nipples, then moving down to her belly, her thighs, her pussy, her hand moving up and down over her shiny wet pubic hair.

At first he just watched and laughed, listening to the sounds Lily made as she moved her finger in and out of her pussy. But soon he began touching himself, rubbing his dick till it got hard. Lily watched and knelt in front of him. Taking his dick in her hand she began stroking it madly. When he came she rubbed his sperm over her breasts and when the water washed it all away she stood up, pushing his face between her legs. Without pausing to breathe he slid his tongue over and around and between her pussy lips until she started moaning and breathing hard. Lily, his true love, was shaking so wildly he had to hold on tightly to her ass to keep her heat on his face.

When she was done and had caught her breath she knelt and began licking his dick until it got hard again. She sucked on it fast and strong and after he squirted inside of her she looked up at him, smiling sweetly with her mouth full of cum, and swallowed. Standing up, she held him close as they both peed, letting the yellow liquid run down their legs. Letting it mingle with the soapy water as it circled down the drain.

When they finally got out of the bathroom Leonard went downstairs and Lily to her room. Sitting on the living room sofa between their mother and father was Jimmy.

“Where’s... Lily?” Jimmy asked slowly, sounding as if he had a mouth full of food.

Leonard brushed his wet hair away from his face. He tilted his head upwards as his wide dark eyes caught the light from the living room lamp.

“She’s drying her hair,” he said. “She’ll be down soon.”

“Oh,” Jimmy nodded. “Okay,” as Grandma and Grandpa looked not at Leonard but at Jimmy with a trace of apprehension in their eyes.

Leonard went outside, sat on the porch steps, and laughed.

That night, when Lily came home from her date with Jimmy, she whispered to him, “It’s all right. I only gave him a blow job.”

And when everyone in the house was asleep he went to her room. She was waiting for him.