THE SCENT

vecteezy.com

 Christopher Poindexter said, "Nothing brings to life again a forgotten memory, like fragrance."
It is amazing isn’t it? How your nose can remember a scent from 10 years ago. One whiff of something and immediately, the mind goes somewhere far away, it is so strong that you feel as though you have telepathically changed location. The scent adds to the imagination and memory and makes it stronger. It doesn’t have to be a whiff. Sometimes you are sitting and suddenly you can remember what your primary two class smelt like and the color Miss Uja was wearing at that moment. 

How well do we use our five senses really? To see, to feel, to hear, to smell, to taste. What if there is more? What if time travel exists really and it is embedded within us? Because one time I touched a scarf and suddenly before my eyes, my then boyfriend, my first ever boyfriend was sitting next to me, lifting that veil from my face. He was smiling and dressed like a groom and I was in our home. In a brief moment I was in an alternate reality, I felt an alternate reality, I saw an alternate reality. Déjà vu? Everything is written no? So what if we can see these alternate realities, the future, the same way we can see our past. Time is a line already created and we are walking on it. So what if?

Scent is very important. The smell of people’s houses. Did you know that every house has a unique smell that everyone perceives except for the people living in that house? We ourselves have our smell that people associate us with. Not our perfume. Our skin. Our hair. Our breath.

There is an ongoing debate. Would you take on bad breath or body odor? Judge if you may, I can handle body odor because it comes from you. What you call odor I call essence. Not the strong over powering one that can end your life, of course. The sweaty, I may need to shower body essence. It is scent to me, because it is you. It is your identity. It came from you. It has you all over it. It can never be offensive to me. Those are the pores madness opens. It allows you to appreciate the weird scents.

And thus everything has a smell. Old people have a smell. The old woman, of her kola nut, her strong incense and herbs. The infant, of milk and powder and that sweet baby smell, your best friend of her unique sweet smell with traces of innocence that she has carried on her since you've known her. The scent of a lover, left on your skin, reminding you of the whispers, filling your senses with longing, your heart of desire, oh if only. The scent of your mother. How you can channel her scent even if you are miles away. It comforts you, before it makes you cry because you need her, you miss her and no matter how old you are, you want her to come and fix all the broken with those magic powers she has.

Have you ever been to a changing room after a sports game? The guys all sweaty and delicious. It is a mixture of boy and man and of your very first crush. Have you ever gotten ready to party with your friends? You are all in a hurry and excited and laughing because you all look so dashing. You all spray each other's perfume, laughing and hoping you will be friends forever? The room smells amazing and it remains in your head even though that was the night you got your heart broken, somehow the scent of your friends in your room gives you comfort as you cry in your pillow.

It is no surprise that I form affinities based on scent. It has to be dangerous enough to stir my senses, enough to cause me to time travel. It has to be powerful enough that it reminds me of your words, it also has to feel like home. Whenever I lay my burdened head on your chest, the scent that fills me should scream, "I got you."

And thus, the moment I got my Rosie perfume I knew exactly what it was to be for. It was what I would smell like on my very first date. The traditional first date. Pick me up take me to a public place and bring me home before midnight. That kind. It has sort of evaded me all these years. So I dreamed for it to happen in my 25^th year. I was supposed to find 'the one' and wear my Rosie for him. It was to be on my skin as he took me in his arms and I opened my heart for him. That was a year ago. Now my Rosie sits among others to be used carelessly and without purpose. Because it was nothing but a dream and dreams don’t come true in this dimension.