This portrait of my Great Aunt Malke preserves some experiences germane to the first five years of my childhood on the West Side of Chicago. My earliest memories were her marvelous chicken soup, and the gefilte fish that she made by hand and cooked every Friday before the Sabbath. Her kitchen had a checkered linoleum floor that disappeared under sheets of newspaper after it was scrubbed clean each week. The overstuffed chair in the background was my favorite place to perch.