Buckley Offit, the author's father, was once described as "the biggest bookmakers in Maryland, maybe the entire United States of America". One of his son's first memories is of Buckley fighting off a kidnap attempt; later he remembers his father buying his way out of a gambling rap. An unsavory underworld character, we might conclude, but Buckley Offit was also the man who inspired his wife to answer "Bucky my Bucky" when asked what had kept her alive for 90 years.