Walking through the grocery
store this morning, I was suddenly overcome by an odor that was so strong it
was palatable. This stinky stench filled
the store in a matter of moments. The
best way I can describe it is to say it smelled like a layer of body odor,
covered with curry, layered in dry urine, swirled with something musky and
sweet and then topped with more body odor.
It was the most bad-ass B.O. I’ve ever smelled!
People in the store
grimaced and I, wearing a cotton wide-necked sweater, buried my nose in the
neck of my shirt. My eyes watered from
the potency of the stench and, though I haven’t checked, I am certain my nose
hairs were burned clean off.
My first inclination
was to think a homeless person may have wandered into the store for warmth or
to use the restroom; and compassion tugged at me. But then, I caught a glimpse of the odorous
wonder and compassion left me.
It was a young woman,
maybe in her early twenties. I let my
eyes run the course of her body from her feet to her head. She was dressed in clothing that looked clean
and pressed. Her hands were manicured
and her nails painted. There was no dirt
on her skin and she wore shiny lip gloss and gold earrings. There was nothing that indicated that she
might be homeless. In fact, she appeared
well groomed, as if she had showered this morning; though the stench spoke
otherwise. My eyes stopped on her hair,
which hung in thick dreadlocks; thick, dried, clumpy dreadlocks. These weren't the nice looking, fashionable kind of dreadlocks. These were muddy and mangy looking. I shivered internally, imagining the amount
of bacteria in each pasty lock and wondering when was the last time her whole
head had been given a good, solid scrubbing.
As I passed by her, the
odor triggered my gag reflex. How could
someone with such a pretty, clean face smell so horrible? Upon returning from the store I could still
smell it. I was having a Seinfeld moment…the
B.O. was like an entity that had latched onto me. I threw my clothes into the washer and jumped
into a hot shower.
I’m now free of the
stench but still curious as to how someone can smell that bad and not know
it? An even bigger question is why aren't her friends telling her that she stinks?! Maybe we need a sign that says, "Just Say NO to Bad-Ass B.O." So, when someone smells that bad you don't have to say anything, you just hand them the sign. ~
Fortunately or not, I have NO sense of smell. Why? No one knows/nose. Thanks for sharing, S.R.
ReplyDelete