I Saw My Breath This Morning

We woke up early this morning, when the air is changing colors like the filters on a phone. The houses were still sleeping, and the cars were going slow. I still felt groggy and tired and thick. It was cold. Not wet- slushing-cold, not bitter-killing-cold. It was dry-cleansing-cold. I stood outside our silver car, bundles of blankets and coats and cords wrapped in my arms as we waited to embark on this three-hour drive. I was to be the Captain, in the captain seat, leg room galore. And I would write, and I would write, and I would write. As my dad walked by and said something that couldn’t penetrate me ears, I saw a cloud of breath. I saw a cloud of breath. This is Florida, the sunny state. The scorching heat state. The state where kids don’t play at recess because the playground has turned into a witch’s furnace. But there it was, a cloud of breath. And like a dragon, I opened my mouth and let out the biggest breath I had. A plume of wispy white fogged my vision and blew in the wind. A nostalgic, childish feeling of giddy arose in me. I kept blowing. And I blew, and I blew, and I blew. I thought about the wonderous science- was it cold air mixing with hot air? It didn’t really matter. I was a dragon. A snow dragon. With the power of ice in my throat. I could conquer the world. The plume of wispy white floated away as I stood by myself in the magical, cold world. Oh, but I was a dragon, a snow dragon, with the power of ice in my throat, ready to conquer the world. All because I saw a cloud of breath.