They were flying south, ahead of the storm front. Reclined in the rear starboard seat, Jack had a view of the towering thunderclouds in the distance. Rising sixty thousand feet, almost into space, the clouds took form as water, an apparently single mass, but in fact an uncountable number of discrete drops, suspended briefly before being released to the earth again. He was drifting in and out of sleep. He had finally taken the medicine, whatever it was, that the doctor had given him before he got on the plane. Now he felt exhausted, aware, but in a dreamy state.

A dream, or perhaps it was a memory that came back to him each time he closed he eyes and drifted back to sleep. The image was of waves at the shore, of holding Dan in the water when he was a little boy, maybe nine or ten years old.

“Here comes a big one, Dad. A really HUGE one!” Dan was shouting as he looked over Jack’s shoulder.”

Jack could see the excited look as he held Dan up with arms extended. Then he felt the wave lift him from him from behind, going over his head.

“That one was the biggest one, Dad.”

They floated in the water, Jack holding his son on a glorious summer day, the ocean yielding an occasional roller for Dan’s pure excitement.

Suddenly Dan’s face looked as if an urgently perplexing thought had occurred to him. “Dad, what happens to the wave when it gets to the beach? Where does it go?”

Jack smiled at the miracle of unconditional love he was holding. “Dan, it doesn’t go anywhere. It just becomes part of the ocean again.” He was reminded of his question last night, “Where does the fire go when you blow out the candle?” Dan was on a “Where does it go?” jag.

“Oh.” Dan squinted, looking up at a gull circling overhead. Again, the urgently perplexed look. “Dad, do you think there could be people living on Saturn?”

Jack chuckled, but only in awe at the breath of Dan’s curiosity. “Kiddo, I guess I really hadn’t thought of it. What do you think?”

“Well, you know how it’s made of gas.” He held his hands out and opened his eyes wide as if he was about to reveal an amazing insight. “Well, I was thinking that maybe the people live on the inside and we just can’t see them.”

After another wave had rolled in and Jack held Dan over his head, he cleared the water from his eyes. “I think somebody probably already checked into that, but, you know… when we get back to the house, we’ll look it up, OK?”

“OK… Hey, Dad…”

Jack looked back, right into Dan’s eyes, ready for another question.

“I love you, Dad. You’re the best Dad in the whole universe.”

Jack opened his eyes and looked out at the storm clouds again.

A wave rises from the ocean, sharing the nature of all water and yet it takes on a new name — wave. What occurred to him in his delirium was a wave as it rose taking on an awareness of itself. “I am a big wave. I am the biggest wave. I am force, energy in motion. I am a tower.” And yet as the wave approaches the shore, driven inexorably, there is the realization, “When I reach the shore, my time will be over.” He tried to put the thought out of his mind, but the question came back to him.

“Dad, what happens to the wave when it gets to the beach?”

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, closed his eyes again, and made himself think about how he was going to get out of the mess he was in.

What happens to the wave when it reaches the shore? It returns to its element. It becomes water.