A Mystery Smell

"It smells like a dead rat." This was the most common declaration by a student that entered my classroom a few weeks ago. No student was making this up. I agreed. I had been absent the day before the smell and wondered in the back of my mind if some creature or equally gross thing had been hidden in the room. Other students thought the same; however, no one came forward and there weren't even rumors, so that hypothesis became less supported over the next few weeks.

I moved the class to the library (like I did with our heating problems) and taught there for a few days while we tried to figure out the cause of the smell. I looked in every drawer, shelf, and box that I could find, but I found nothing. The janitors took the screens off the vents and replaced the air filter to my heating and air conditioning unit. They found nothing. I was moved back to the room after a few days as it was getting more difficult to teach and the principal thought the smell had gone down. It had, I didn't mind, but the students definitely cared.

At first, I kept the fan going and door open but the smell stayed. One teacher thought that some ammonia might clear out the smell. We put small amounts in the room during my homeroom (the students were in another classroom) and that didn't do much. The smell wasn't there as much but the smell of ammonia hung in the room, too. I thought maybe that the smell was in the carpets and took to cleaning them. I went to the store and bought some powder carpet cleaner and vacuumed the room the next morning. The result was another combination smell; although the baking soda in the powder seemed to help. The next move was by the principal who had the carpets deep-cleaned and most of the smell left after that. Unfortunately, there's still some of the smell lingering in the room. The smell has decreased this week but it's still a source of amusement for many of the students. I still think that the vents have something to do with the smell as it's at its strongest when the vents are blowing air. Luckily, I have a glade plug-in near the front and it masks the smell quite well.

Tangentially related, an electrocuted rat was found underneath a desk in the computer lab right across the hall from my room. I guess it had burn marks and was missing some fur; I didn't get to see it. Also, while writing this post, a medium sized orange spider crawled across the armrest. It made me jump a bit but I took care of it. Its body wasn't too big, but its legs were quite long.

In other news, I went to Doe's Eat Place in Greenville this last weekend. It's one of the Delta's best known restaurants. It's famous for its steaks and tamales. I had the best steak I've ever had in a restaurant. The funny thing about Doe's is that its prices and cooking don't match its decor. You enter through the kitchen/waiting area where there is a huge grill and oven full of steaks and other food. There's another prep table to your left and a counter up front where waitresses are preparing dishes for customers. Signed pictures of celebrities hang all around while people wait. Once you are in, you go to your table and you have to be careful. The floor is uneven and someone who drank too much wouldn't be able to leave without falling a few times. The tables have elegant plastic table cloths and regular ol' chairs with some of the cushioning coming out. Our table was at slant, as well. While Doe's has beer, it's BYOB. We were provided with wineglasses and their corkscrew had to be shared among the guests. However, once the food arrives, you'll forget about any deficiencies in the decor. The steak came with garlic bread toasted on the grill and steak fries. The meat was a few inches thick; it fell off the bone; it was perfectly tender. It just tasted good.