Further Adventures of the Family Mustelidae

Someone had recently killed a skunk on the way home. It's surprising how pleasant the smell is. It's complex, an animal smell opposed to the faked flowers and spices we surround ourselves with; I can tell why civet became popular as a perfume, if it's like this scent. It is, I've decided, to the nose as red wine just starting on its way to vinegar is to the palate. Unmistakeable, at first experience both intriguing and unsettling.

I've never been able to guess if the scent of such road-kills is an involuntary reaction after death, like people emptying their bowels, or if the skunk has one brief moment of olfactory defiance before its demise.