The Password Is . . .

Webner House readers of a certain age will recall the TV game show Password.  Hosted by Allen Ludden, the show featured contestants teamed with celebrities — one of whom always seemed to be Ludden’s wife, Betty White — who then had to get their teammates to say the “password” without saying the word itself.  The password always was disclosed to the TV audience by the breathlessly whispered phrase:  “The password is . . . .”

From my vantage point in one of the office buildings in Cleveland, I look out over partially frozen Lake Erie to the power plant in the distance, with condensation and smoke billowing from the smokestack, pushed by a stiff breeze and starkly visible against the cloudy gray sky, and I think:  “The password is . . . tundra.”  Or:  “The password is . . . frigid.”  Or:  “The password is [insert your choice of word depicting deep, bone-chilling cold].”