Veeder: Waiting for the cold

WATFORD CITY, N.D. — It s mid-November and our windows have been closed for weeks, sealing our houses up against the chill that this month lays upon the nights. And we button up in the morning as we step out to start our cars, or saddle a horse, or feed the livestock or take a jog while the streets are quiet. We rub our hands together and notice our breath pushing out our bodies and floating in the atmosphere, hanging our words up there to linger for a bit. Huh, look at that, we say. Haven t seen my breath for months. Our words forget that they can be seen. Our skin forgets, somehow, what this chill feels like. It forgets it bites a bit. It forgets the way the cold comes in, rustling the near-bare branches, dancing with the dried-up grasses and the remnants of the wildflowers left behind brave and brittle with us. Yes it s mid-November and we re reminded by the flush in our cheeks and the boots on our feet, prepared for the moment the sky could fall. Any moment