MY FATHER is like Houdini. He took his magic tricks to the grave. My favorite was: “boing, boing, boing, boing, tap, tap,” the sound of a driving nail. He probably hammered millions in his lifetime. Bent nails and hammer marks left on the wood were rare. Each nail rang like a bell when struck. I’ve never heard that exact sound made by anybody else, nor reproduced it myself. God, I miss the sound of his driving nails.