Ammonia

Posted on July 29, 2003 in Book of Days Childhood Strange

Note: This is part of a series based on exercises from A Writer’s Book of Days. It’s something of a rebellion against the Friday Five and similar tupperware content memes.

Today’s topic: Write about a scent.

Three cats generate ample amounts of ammonia. The chemical accumulates in their litter box and crystallizes as a white powder. On muggy days, it mixes with the air, splashing against the nerve endings inside the sinuses like faint, piss yellow waves.

Ammonia’s not sour nor is it bitter. Sweet certainly doesn’t apply. I give it a class all of it’s own, what air might smell like if you gave the sinuses a stainless steel coating and rolled a drop of acid in. It’s not the smell, but the burning humidity that gives ammonia it’s character. As the first vapors enter your nose, the nasal passages shut down.

I remember my first whiff of household ammonia. I took off the lid of the bottle and took a slight whiff. I remember being fascinated by the way it made my sinuses feel like they were turning inside out.

Of course, my mother wisely stopped me before I killed myself. I learned proper caution and thereafter fled when my nose began to pucker.

• Shameless Agitator
  
• Joker on the Run

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Tomorrow’ topic/prompt: Write about an eclipse.