The Smell From Hell

Yesterday I got into my car to drive to the supermarket and was nearly overcome by a horrible stink that nearly defies description. I thought it was coming from the garbage can in my garage that I have to park really close to, so I pulled out of the garage as quickly as I could and put down the windows for my short drive to the store.

I get to the store, do my shopping, and get back in the car only to find that the stink is still here! It's not the garbage can at all -- it's something in my car! What could it possibly be?

I drive home, unload the groceries, and head back out to the car, bottle of Febreeze in hand. I decide that the stink must be coming from the pile of used supermarket plastic bags that I've been meaning to return to the store but keep forgetting. I throw them away, febreeze everything in sight, and then lower the windows hoping for the best.

Today, on my way to work it seems OK until I close the windows and the I can smell it again. Horrible stink that is so awful I worry that it's permeating my clothes and that I will stink when I exit the car. I crank the air because that makes it slightly less gross and crack the windows as much as I can without getting wet (it's pouring rain) and it's bearable but this is really quite troubling. What can it be?

And then I remember stopping for a gallon of milk on the way home from work on Monday. Somewhere between the WaWa and my house the gallon had tipped over and must have sprung a leak during the fall because when I grabbed it to walk into the house I realized that it was leaking into the plastic bag and it was a big mess. So the horrible smell is rotten milk all over my floor mat. I feel better knowing what the source of the horrible smell is but I am powerless to fix it today. I can't leave the car windows open because of the pouring rain (it's supposed to continue all day) and I can't bring the mat into the office becuase it's too gross. I guess I could have taken it out and put it on the roof or something to get washed by the rain but that seemed too messy too.

In the end, I just left it where it is. I hope I can make it home without passing out from the fumes.