Who nose?

Today I got Swine Flu up my nose.

On purpose and all.  I went for the h1n1 (or, as the regional boss ranger calls it, "the heinie flu") vaccination over my lunch break.  I was bundled up against the cold and didn't really want to roll my sleeve all the way up, so I thought hey, why not.

Have you ever had a stranger stick something up your nose?  Both nostrils?  It's a very discomfiting experience.  I was in and out of the clinic in a matter of minutes, having filled out all the paperwork beforehand.  So the whole thing felt a bit like an alien abduction.  Efficient, impersonal and disorienting.  Gave me the sniffles.

My nose has come quite in handy of late - or at least, it's been a source of interest.  The other day, I collected entrance fees from a woman who smelled like one particular kind of laundry soap.  A clean and cutting smell that reminded me so much of the t-shirts of a high school friend I haven't had occasion to talk to in years.  It was a swift and unexpected reminder, like a hug sprung upon you from a blind spot.

And today as I dusted off the interpretive signs along a trail, I came to the wooden deck overlooking Tavasci Marsh.  The timbers they used to build the overlook must have been treated and stained with the same chemical concoction as the deck at my grandparents' house at the beach.  Windex and lime-green towel in hand, I inhaled and was suddenly basking in the salty air - my only care being how quickly I could get to the next chapter in my Fear Street book, and when to do my algebra homework. 

Such strange windows to the past scents can be.  It's not quite the cutting edge technology of a System of Tubes crisscrossing the continent, but it'll do for now.

You enjoy this.  I'll keep working on the Tubes.