What's That Smell?

...or "Excuse me, your house stinks." A friend who lives over on Kent Pl. mentioned via email that the source of a certain localized stench had recently been identified. Apparently someone abandoned a large cache of meat that is believed to be circa July 4th. Gross, but I've got an equally foul tail to tell. This is the one I like to break out whenever someone else grumbles about that bushel of crab shells some moron abandoned on an empty lot (there is a special place in Hell for such people).

Way back in spring of 2002 I used to spend a great deal of time at a certain house located one block north of H Street and, I'll say, somewhere between 4th and 7th. Most of the houses on the western side of the street were owned and maintained by a single entity. But there was one house that was occupied by a woman and her early 20s son. That house had fallen into such disrepair that the upstairs back bathroom leaned badly, and other neighbors would frequently joke that the woman would one day find herself taking a bath in her backyard. We were cordial, but that was about it.

So no one was really sure what to do when a large stewpot filled with a thick white substance appeared on her back porch. At first it wasn't noticeable, but then the flies showed up...lots of them. As time passed and the heat increased the stench became unbearable. You couldn't even go into the backyard any more. We'd look at the stuff through the back door and watch as the heat dried it up a bit, only to have the next rain rehydrate the substance. Each time the flies returned with a renewed vigor. We couldn't stand it. I'm not sure how long it took, but I think it was around a month. One of us finally had to speak with the woman. Apparently, she had made chittlins and decided that her back porch would be an acceptable place to store the waste product. The stewpot disappeared, but I don't think the mental image of it is going anywhere.