stink pretty

I've never really been a fragrance person and hate the smell of most perfumes. 

There are a few exceptions. When I worked in retail and got a discount, I would occasionally spring for Clinique's Aromatics Elixir. My mom's worn it for years - it's more of a sandalwoody sort of scent rather than flowery. And lately I've fallen in love with a company called Demeter. They make fragrances that mimic real life smells, with names like "Dirt" and "Thunderstorm". 

David's son Dylan once told me that I only like smells that most people think smell bad, and I guess that's true. The smells I really love are things like gasoline and hot tar. Maybe they remind me of my childhood, when my dad would come home from his job at the railroad smelling like creosote. All I know is I always try to get a little gasoline on my glove filling up my car in the wintertime so I can sniff it all day.

Yesterday I was at Schnuck's when one of those little glass jars of chopped garlic slipped out of my hand and broke all over the floor. There was a tall kid with an Amish beard working in the produce department, so I walked up to him, told him what I had done and that I was sorry. "Don't worry about it," he said conspiratorially, "I broke one myself this morning." 

The side effect was that suddenly the produce department was flooded with the heavenly scent of garlic. A lady standing next to me said, "That smells great! What is that?" While I was explaining to her about how much easier it was to buy garlic pre-chopped in these little jars rather than chopping up a clove, another man walked up sniffing the air and declared "I'm staying right here." It did smell like the best Italian restaurant you've ever been to. I hated to leave.

Now that I have a job I can buy Demeter fragrance again. 

I wonder if they make "Garlic"?