The Smell of DeathLong ago, I learned a valuable lesson, though to this day people have thought it laughable. I've always known about death and when it's coming.
During my teens, my grandfather died. He was ill for a long time. I thought his odor was normal. Not until Auntie got sick did I realize the odor of Grandpa was on her. She died too. I told my parents about the offensive essence but they scoffed.
Throughout the years, when I was around a sick person, I knew if he or she would get well or die by the way that their odor progressed or disappeared. That scent permeated their clothing and tainted the air in their homes; a strong pungent effluvium of body chemistry drastically altered, as if from decay, but evidently undetected by people always with that person.
It's been over fifty
