Something Extra Sensory
There was nothing here to arouse him.
The bricks on the subway wall
had all been painted in a pale grey.
He sniffed the air.
It was only mildew and
the smell of a half empty can
of Milwaukee's Best.
That stirring inside him wouldn't go away.
Why were his legs wobbling?
This was driving him crazy.
He touched the railing and it was cold chrome.
He listened for a voice but he only heard the train rattling to a stop below.
"Oh snap out of this Jonathan, or you will miss the 7:45 train."
A deep pain went through his heart.
Was he thinking to himself too loud? That voice did not sound like himself.
Slap!!!
"Come on Johnathan, get on the train. You're going to be late."
It was Susan's voice that slapped across his whole body.
She was the girl that started working in the office across from him.
He trembled at the thought of a fifteen minute train ride with her.
The rush hour train filled with sleepy people. Susan whispered something in his ear.
He really didn't hear what she was saying but something stirred.
That scent remained
The grey color of the subway disappeared into yellows and aqua blues like a kaleidoscope.
What had she said to him? He really could not grasp, but that scent remained. It was a scent you really can't describe in words. It wasn't like a perfume that could be bottled.
It was the scent of the evergreen forest. It was a happy scent that carried his entire essence away.
He had to say something to her. He looked at the map above them and said...
Umm. I think this is our stop.
She smiled and her amber eyes met his. He knew he had to look down but he couldn't.
For one moment he was lost in what was like a gem of endless reflections.
Susan nodded and said,
I'm late too. Don't forget.
She left the subway door quickly and burst up the steep stairs.
Johnathan tried to keep up with her when he realized something and stopped for a second.
He noticed the sleek contour of her legs as she elegantly progressed up the stairs.
He was swept away as if he had seen and angel. Every day he had taken that train and every day gone do work doing the daily grind, but this day he saw his life in a different light.
He thought
This is more than just a feeling. This is the real thing.
[Photo by Jean Baptiste Mondino]
(https://www.mbphoto.com/artists/7-jean-baptiste-mondino/series/other-works/1419/)
When he got to the top of the stairs she asked him,
You don't mind walking with me?
Johnathan answered,
Oh, not at all.
They walked a couple hundred meters to the entrances of the 23 story office building they both had offices to go to.
There at the front of building stood their boss, Mr. Grayskull. He stood over six feet tall and stood at the door like a giant teddy bear.
He was smiling as if nothing in the world mattered to him at all.
Johnathan said hello but then couldn't believe what the person next to him was doing.
Susan got extremely close to Mr. Grayskull. He picked her up in his arms and held tight. Their lips locked in a deep embrace.
After seeing that scene, Johnathan's heart dropped. Even though he tried, he couldn't stop thinking about Susan.
Every time she walked by there was that fragrance. Every time she spoke it was like the waves coming to the shore.
Even when he couldn't see her or smell her, there was something that remained in the air.
What was it?
What was that extra sensual perception that controlled his every fiber in his being?
It was not her voice. There was something more than a perfume. It was like there were some chemical signals in the air signaling him to follow her.
When he got home that night he searched the Medical files and found this report from the NIH:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3987372/
He found there are signals that work in some animals called "pheromones".
These are the signals that alert one animal that there is a suitable mate of the same species nearby.
He found that hormones such as androsterones can also be secreted by the human body. They have no odor but carry a chemical message to the nose in a place that is activated in some people but not in all people.
Johnathan was startled by this discovery and wondered if he could open someone's extra sensual perception with these chemicals.
It wasn't Susan he was interested in anymore. There were bigger fish in the sea to be caught.
Pictures used in this story can be found on Pixabay unless otherwise mentioned.