"I'm starting to learn the drinking songs," she says, her voice twisting a little wryly. Even somebody who went to bed at sundown every night, she thinks, would learn the drinking songs. They soak into you as easily as the cold. And then she smiles a little. "I haven't heard a pop song since the turn. I didn't even like them, but--"

But the idea of recorded music is a novelty to her, these days. Might not be Tom Waits, but still--something old and new all at once.