We have to call – I have to call – a repairman, because when we try to start the dryer it makes a noise like a vacuum sucking up a broken stereo. Like a dryer that needs a repairman.

I've barely closed the front door behind him when he tells me he found the problem. A sock had been sucked up into the vent, and now it is fixed. Like that. I'd known the screen to the vent was missing a screw, had been putting off going to the hardware store.

My dad would have taken the dryer apart himself, would have found the problem, fixed it. He would have gone to the hardware store and there never would have been a repairman. I think of growing up and the coffee tins in our garage, full of screws and nails, washers and nuts and bolts, all sizes. He wouldn't have had to go to the hardware store at all. I don't know if I have a single extra nail or screw in the house. I don't drink coffee.