“My mother wanted something conventional. And that wasn’t my...

“My mother wanted something conventional. And that wasn’t my father. So after the age of five we never lived with him. Sundays were our day together. He’d take us to the candy store, or the flea market, or to bumper cars on Coney Island. Then sometimes we’d go home and play ‘Alaska.’ Alaska was this crazy game we’d play in the middle of the winter. My dad would open up all the windows in his apartment, and we’d pretend we were in Alaska. He was always doing crazy things like that. But we had a very conventional mother and stepfather. So the way we saw it, we had the best of both worlds. Dad never held down a nine-to-five job, so he was always selling something. Or at least looking to make a trade. At restaurants he’d attempt to pay for our meal with jewelry. Or he’d try to talk our cab driver into accepting a bottle of perfume. He’d stop anyone on the street to sell them a scarf, or even just to talk. But his true passion has always been magic. He carries a deck of cards with him everywhere. And he’ll wrangle an audience wherever he can find one. He says: ‘Accadas, Nitram,’ which is his name backwards. Then he’ll pull a card out of the ear or mouth of anyone walking down the street. He’s extremely good. You can pick a random card, shuffle the deck, and he’ll pretend he can’t find it. Then he’ll pull it out of his wallet. One time he came to my third-grade class in a cape and hat, and did a magic show. I got to be the magician’s assistant, and we made three oranges disappear. The other kids couldn’t believe it. Brandi’s dad did magic! I was star of the day. Star of the year. When I had kids of my own, Pop Pop did a magic show for all of their classes. I insisted on it. Dad is eighty-five now. Maybe the correct card doesn’t always come out of the deck anymore, but he’s still magic. This Father’s Day we took him out to lunch. And as we were leaving the restaurant, I turned around and saw him at a stranger’s table. He was performing a trick for two young children, and they loved it of course. But for me it brought back a flood of memories. Of the thousands of people this man has made smile over the years.”