Serge A. Storms thought to have committed suicide when Serge was a child, but during the novel "Cadillac Beach" it's discovered that he is still alive. The elder Storms had a heart attack not long after his grandson's 44th birthday, and died after a short stay in hospital. Storms' father Pablo was a Cuban American jai alai player who was more popular for his unpredictability than his skill at the sport; he died when he hurled a "pelota" that rebounded and struck him forcefully in the head. This occurred when Serge was very young, and left his mother a widowed single mother. She
Jai alai with a 125–140 g ball covered with goatskin that traveled at , performed by José Ramón Areitio at the Newport Rhode Island Jai Alai, until it was broken by Canadian 5-time long drive champion Jason Zuback on a 2007 episode of Sport Science with a golf ball speed of . The court for jai alai consists of walls on the front, back and left, and the floor between them. If the ball (called a "pilota", "ball" in Euskara) touches the floor outside these walls, it is considered out of bounds. Similarly, there is also a border on the lower of