The year we spent in Williamsburg was my least itchy year, and also the best for all the ailments that I was afflicted with: my allergies to dust, cats, dogs, pollen, all types of nuts, perfume, anything that had a strong odour ...
At night, if I was itchy, my mom would scratch my left leg and my dad would scratch my right leg while I would sleep with double protection – I wore oven mitts on both my hands, and on top of that, my parents tied a plastic bag around my wrists with a rubber band so that I wouldn’t scratch myself bloody in my sleep .... Once I asked my mom to scratch my nipple until it split open and I lay there in bed cradling my own tit to sleep.