“The Smell”

Author’s Note: This is a Take Ten to Write story and has not been proofread for errors. If I feel inspired or if there’s interest in the story, I’ll post a revised, edited, and extended version at a later date. Happy reading!

Prompt: Funky.

The familiar sharp tapping of stilettos against tiles draws my attention. Lisa’s walking toward me, hand raised in a wave, when she suddenly stops mid-step.

“What is that smell?” she asks, her hand flying up to pinch her nose.

“What smell?” I frown, returning my attention to my pot. I breathe in deeply through my nose to see if I can tell what she’s talking about, but I can’t smell anything.

“You’re seriously telling me that you can’t smell that?”

I shrug. “Apparently not. What does it smell like?”

“It smells… well… almost like… hmm no…”

I stop stirring and turn to her with a raised brow. “Well?”

“It’s hard to describe!”

“How can it be hard to describe? It’s a smell for crying out loud!”

She purses her lips as she always does when she’s thinking hard. “Well, I guess it smells…”

She trails off again and I sigh. “It smells what? Nice? Bad? Spicy? Sharp?”

Suddenly, her eyes light up. “Funky!” she exclaims. Then she nods, as if immensely proud of herself. “It smells funky.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

She rolls her eyes at me and walks back out of the kitchen. With a shrug, I turn back to stirring my apparently funky-smelling soup.

Final Comments: I had fun with this one, but I wish I’d included more imagery.

Overall Rating: 🙂