A Skunk, a Quesadilla, and a Day Off.

Several years ago when I still smoked cigarettes, I was preparing to go to work and I went outside to burn one and start my car. As I walked toward the house, a skunk turned the corner from in front of my car headed in my direction at the normal waddling pace that skunks use. Startled, I stopped walking abruptly and backed up slowly. The skunk turned around and walked away leisurely. When I first encountered him/her, I was within about 6 feet and I counted myself fortunate. The distance between us grew to about 12 feet and I heard the faint ffft noise. I smelled that skunk smell, but I still was glad none of it hit me so I went back in the house to make a quesadilla for breakfast, eat it and left for work.

I was an apartment maintenance technician at the time and my job was to repair common apartment problems such a garbage disposals, doors, and sinks. I arrived at work like normal and went to the leasing office to get some work orders to do that day. One of the girls that worked there, said, “What is that smell?” She was on the other side of the room and she said I could not go into apartments like that so I was sent home for the day. I didn’t even know I was sprayed!

After I got home, I took off all my clothes and threw them outside on the deck. There they stayed for the next two weeks. I then took a regular bath and used soap and that is it. Oh, and water. I then put on clean clothes.

I received a call for a computer client to fix something on their network (I had a business doing that on the side) and I reported there to take care that issue. I asked the guys there if they could tell I was spayed by a skunk that morning. Only one guy could smell something but didn’t recognize it. So, two things could have been possible in that instance. One, women have a better sense of smell than men do or two, soap and water really do work and there is no need to run to Costco or Sam’s for that case of tomato sauce.  Were I to venture a guess, I would have to go with both being true. One day later and another bath and my skin was no longer skunky.

Two weeks out on the deck and a cycle in the washysheen were sufficient to rid my clothes of the smell. The out of doors has a wonderful power of cleansing.  But one mention my breakfast is not enough to warrant the word quesadilla in the title of this article. Three days after that event, I opened that bag of tortillas to once again indulge in quesadilla goodness and, to my horror, the house was filled with skunk smell. Those tortillas had soaked up the odor just by having me stand near them and the odor was sealing in the bag with them. No way am I eating something that smells like that!

It’s disturbing to think I that I ate them like that the day it happened. At least I can check getting sprayed by a skunk off of my bucket list.