Robert glanced down at the inscription on the gravestone. Herbert "Sol" Solomon, Beloved Husband, Father, and Grandfather, 1945 to 1993. Sol was dad's nickname his friends in New York City had given him as a kid. No one ever called him Herbert-it was always Sol.

"Hey, dad, what's that one look like?" Julian wanted to continue playing the cloud game, a game that usually kept him busy enough from getting carsick, especially on the long ride all the way from Chalreston to visit dad's grave in Atlanta.

"Well, let's see," Robert said. He picked up a smooth, palm-sized stone from the damp grass, then glanced up at the sky. "It could be a choo-choo train with lots of smoke from its stack."

"Naah. I think it's a brachiosaurus eating a big clump of weeds."

"Hmm, could be." Robert put the stone on the corner of dad's grave, away from all the other stones the rest of the family had put there earlier that day.

"Hey, can someone help me get this blanket out of the trunk," called Michael, his hands and legs the only visible things from behind the huge picnic blanket.

Robert turned to Julian. "Why don't you go find a nice rock, like maybe an igneous, to put on Papa Sol's grave so he knows you came by to see him."

"Okay, dad." Robert went and helped Mike unload the blanket. "Got the kite, Mike?"

"Yep. It's a real flyer. Julian picked a winner this year." The two brothers walked over and spread the blanket next to their father's plot.

"I'm really glad you thought of this. I always hated coming to the cemetery on Father's Day. I'd leave a stone, sniffle a little, then usually try to forget by walking around, looking at all the other tombstones, the names of the people there, the dates they lived and died. I'd come to see dad, but sometimes it's like you completely-"

"Yeah, I know." Mike put his hand on my shoulder, a slight grimace on his face. Julian came back from his treasure hunt with a fine igneous, speckled with gray bits of granite. He bent down and placed it next to Robert's. "We gonna fly the kite now?"

"Sure," Mike said, tying the tail to the frame, holding the kite at arm's length. The strong and warm wind rippled the vinyl panels painted to resemble a pterodactyl. It seemed like the kite wanted to fly of its own accord, swept along without anyone holding the silver string to control it.

Mike ran off with Julian. Robert sat on the blanket, watching them fly the kite for a while. Dad always loved to fly kites with Mike and me, Robert thought. Especially on cold November days. Dad would go and get us hot chocolate and pretzels at the gas station after we got tired. We'd sit on the picnic blanket, the hot chocolate scalding our tongues, and gnaw on our over-microwaved pretzels, some bites gooey and others hard as rocks.

"Yuck. I don't feel so good." Julian held his stomach and panted as he walked over to Robert. He collapsed on the blanket, next to his father, putting his hands above his head, trying to catch his breath.

"You want to play the cloud game?" Robert asked.

"Sure. If I don't, I'll probably hurl or something."

They sat, gazing at the clouds while Julian caught his breath. It was a kind of warm-up for the imagination.

"There," Julian said after a minute or two, pointing to a low, slow moving cloud. "That's a crocodile."

"But where are the jaws?" Robert asked.

"Don't have any. It's got its mouth closed while it's swimming."

"Okay, I see."

Julian picked out another cloud far in the sky. "What do you see, dad?" he asked, smiling.

"It looks like a big bowl of whipped cream, like the kind your mom loves on top of her strawberry shortcake." The whipped cream floated over the little black road next to the cemetery.

"Really. It looks more like a big cake in the middle of the road. Like your wedding cake." Julian loved to talk about the cake his parents had at their wedding last month. They had to put it on a tall table to prevent Julian from digging his little fingers into it before they cut it. Instead, Kathleen and Robert bent down to Julian and all three shared the first piece. After all, it was Julian who suggested they get married. Kathleen was opposed to marriages in principle-great cover for Robert, who hated the thought of getting married without dad there. But Julian said he didn't want the kids to tease him at school. That was enough for Kathy. She and Robert got married a month later.

Robert looked at the cloud, cocking his head to see how Julian saw a three-tiered wedding cake from a single cloud. But, from Julian's height, the wedding cake didn't have any tiers-it was one continuous snow-covered mountain of cake.

"You're so silly." Robert tickled him where his jersey had come untucked. He squirmed and laughed, then tumbled over onto his stomach. Robert put his hands around him, laughing with him. The kid had quite an imagination.

They lay there as the wedding cake rolled past the little road, over the cemetery, over Sol's grave where they sat and laughed.