17 March 2010

smells

Yesterday morning, stepping off the train downtown, the air smelled like Africa, so strongly that I was disoriented for a moment. Oh, I thought, wrong continent.

"What does Africa smell like?" my colleague asked.

"It smells like wood fires on clean morning air," I said.

...

On the beach, M. and S. played volleyball. I begged off, pointing out that the last thing my crippled wrists need is to spike a volleyball. I sat on a sand bank and laid my head down amidst the sharp, golden beach grass. It smelled sweet and dry, like hay.

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