The Looney Tunes were playing on TV; an old Bugs Bunny cartoon showed Bugs running
in circles around the hunter. If Nicholas couldn’t hear the conversation, then did it actually
happen? Bugs was chewing on a long, orange carrot, but Nicholas was thinking of the last time
he and his dad were alone together. They had gone to the beach a few days before he left for
Iraq and held hands as they walked down into the surf. The water was freezing, and his dad
picked Nicholas up so he wouldn’t get the bottoms of his pants wet. Nicholas felt like
Superman, flying above the ocean civilization, held up by his dad’s strength and his dad’s love.