What's That Smell?
Submitted by Pat Davis
In 1960 my mom, dad, brother, and I were traveling from Massachusetts back to Washington in a 1958 Chevy with no air-conditioning. We were traveling the highway with the radio going and the family talking. Every so often a comment would be made that there was a funny smell in the car. Dad stopped the car several times to check under the hood--nothing. We stopped to get gas and the gas station attendant found nothing burning.
Back on the highway the smell kept getting stronger until all of a sudden Mom yelled, "The dog is on fire!" The dog's fur started to smolder and it was at that point that my dad hit the gravel on the side of the road and muttered a few words that cannot be included in this story.
Evidently, as we traversed the highway an ember from my Dad's cigarette flew back into the car and landed in the dog's fur and it took a few hundred miles to ignite. Ah, those sweet memories of youth and a smell none of us will ever forget!
