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“ACHOO!” I sneezed loudly. My brother exclaims, “Gross!”. We are in the car on the way to our grandmother’s house. I have the worst stuffy nose ever! Why did I have to get a dog? I thought to myself. I could’ve gotten a cat, or maybe a goldfish! We finally arrive at my grandma’s house and unload the car. As I’m dragging my bag into the living room I notice something. It doesn’t smell like snickerdoodles! Grandma always makes us snickerdoodles when we come over. I put my bag down and go into the kitchen. “Hey, Grandma, why doesn’t it smell like…”, I pause and look up to see Grandma taking the cookies out of the oven. My Grandma says, “What were you saying, sweetie?”. “It’s nothing.” I say in response. She shrugs and asks me if I’d like a cookie once they’ve cooled down. I, of course, say yes.

After thoroughly enjoying some cookies, I head upstairs with my bag and enter the guest bedroom. I was expecting the intense aroma of my grandma’s air freshener but I couldn’t smell that either. I’ve never actually slept in the guest bedroom because of the smell keeping me up. Today, however, I unpacked my bag and jumped onto one of the beds. It was so comfortable! My brother walks in and groans. He pinches his nose and says, “How can you handle the smell, it’s awful! I think I’m starting to get a headache.” I responded by telling him, “I guess my stuffy nose has some benefits.” He groans again before running out of the room and going to sleep on the couch. I fell asleep shortly after.

I wake up the next morning feeling so refreshed, despite still having a stuffy nose. The bed was seriously magical. I was disappointed that I couldn’t smell my grandmother’s signature breakfast of bacon, eggs, and blueberry pancakes. I get dressed and head downstairs. My moms says to me, “Aw, you look nice today!” I am about to say thank you when I sneeze. She makes a shocked face. I say, “Thanks but, how am I supposed to look cute when I can’t stop sneezing!” She laughs and I go into the kitchen for my breakfast. My grandma starts making me a plate when she says, “What took you so long to come down? You’re usually awake as soon as the bacon gets cooked.” I sigh and say, “I couldn’t smell it. I have a terrible stuffy nose.” Then I sneeze again. She laughs and says, “Why didn’t you tell me? I’ll make you something to get rid of it.” She takes out a tea bag and pours water over it in my favorite mug of hers. I let it steep and I ask her what flavor it is. She tells me it’s ginger tea. I drink it and, surely enough, my stuffy nose magically goes away. “Thank you!” I exclaim before running up to my grandma and hugging her. As soon as I hugged her, I could smell her strong perfume. I could hardly breathe! We stop hugging and eat breakfast.

Around noon my mother tells my brother and I that it’s time to go home. I go upstairs to pack my bag. I walked into the room and immediately groaned loudly. I could smell the air freshener now! I run in like the room is on fire and quickly pack my bag. I headed back downstairs to say goodbye. As I’m hugging my grandma again, I make sure to tell her to get rid of the air freshener. She tells me, “Oh sweetie, I can’t. It’s covering the stench of a dead body!” She winks at me and we all laugh. On the way home, I roll down the window and smell all of the wonderfulness of nature. As I took in one more whiff, I felt a sneeze coming. Not again!

Quinn Guilfoyle

September 22, 2023