Where the Wild Things Smell

An older couple walked along the beach
the last day we were there
and carried two dead dog sharks
for small children to look at and touch.

The smell was horrendous.

I don't understand why they approached me.
I wouldn't go near anything that smelled like that.
When I was quite younger,
among my first trips to the coast,
a friend and I hoarded a small cashe of seashells.
It was Spring and the perfect season
for shelling.
I found a star fish washed up among the shells.

I took this star fish back to my room,
rinsed it, left it in the sink,
and then went out to eat.

The smell, upon my return, was horrendous x2.

In Huxley's _Brave New World_ smells (aromas in this case)
are paramount.
Luxurious.
Do pleasant aromas distract us from the smells of death??
I want to be bathed in some new scent--