The Foggy Glass

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Psalm 33:6
By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.


He leaned forward and put his nose against the glass. The fish on the other side hardly seemed to notice. As he breathed out, the glass fogged up until it was too cloudy to see through. He leaned back and put his finger on the foggy glass. It left a small, clear spot.

His mother touched his shoulder. “Time to go, honey,” she said. He turned and followed her away from the aquarium. They walked through the tunnel together to the next part of the zoo.

“Why does it do that, Mommy?” he asked.
“Why does what do what?”
“The breath makes the glass foggy.”
“Because your breath is warm and the glass is cold. That’s what happens when the temperatures are different.”
“Oh.”

He put his hand in front of his mouth and breathed out against it. The breath felt warm and gentle on his skin. It almost felt like nothing, but it was the heat that made the difference. He put hit hand back down, and it still felt warm.

“Is that why I can see my breath when it’s cold out too?” he asked.
“Yep.”

They walked through a gate into an open area full of birds. He could hear tons of different calls and rustling sounds of wings or leaves, but he could only see the birds when they flew above him. It just looked like a lot of trees.

“Why do they have birds if you can’t even see ‘em?”
She didn’t answer. She probably didn’t hear him.

He remembered when his dad told him one night that there were millions of stars that they couldn’t see. It was a cold night, and he could see his breath. They stared up at the stars that they could see, and he asked why there were so many if they couldn’t see them all. His dad said he didn’t know.

He looked up. His mouth was open, and he breathed in and out slowly and quietly.