The story of a man with an extraordinary nose who meets a woman with an extraordinary scent.
Jim Bronson is a man of limited social skills and emotional range. His only friend is Mother (Maybelline lipstick, stale coffee, Channel #5, Finesse Moisturizing Shampoo, cigarette smoke, and spearmint gun). He has a rare condition that gives him an extraordinary sense of smell and it has become his primary way of being in his world of loneliness, nostalgia, and isolation.
He is a scientist and a collector. He collects and studies smells of places and moments in time. But has he crossed the line when he collects the smells of other people?
Marie (rain on early spring birch leaves, the filament of an orchid, and the slightest hint of cardamom ) thinks so, but she finds herself in need of Jim’s unusual gifts.
Whiff – Chapter 6
I wake up excited. It’s Saturday, and I’m free to spend the day visiting my collection. I think about the places I want to go and smell. I fix Mother some toast with strawberry jam and a cup of hot coffee. She’ll be sore, so I’m prepared to rub her legs with liniment. She says…
Whiff – Chapter 5
Start from beginning I didn’t grow up wanting to be a library assistant. I work here for four reasons. One, it’s right next to the post office. This allows me to visit it more frequently. I have a morning break, a lunch break, and an afternoon break with which to visit my beloved. It’s only…
Whiff – Chapter 4
I reach in my pocket to find the bottle #2, and gather my courage. I rub my index finger over the smooth contours of its corners and over the rough surface of the little cork that held beloved scent of Mother. I thought of girls in my past who had rejected me and had been…
David Wilson-Burns 