In the kitchen at the back of the Dog Library, two dogs known as the Scent Scribes worked as scent specialists. They consulted with Scout, the kitchen’s head chef, about the scents that should go in each story.
One of the stories was about a squirrel chase. The Scent Scribes went to work. They suggested adding the scent of forest aromas and hints of squirrel musk. Scout then added the scent of acorns.
Editing scents
Scout always used a lot of scents in his recipes. He thought dogs would have more story choices that way.
The Scent Scribes were pickier, like story editors. They thought fewer scents made a story smell stronger. So, they removed some of Scout’s scents from the scent pots. Then they added some of their own, especially red pencils, paper clips, and erasers.
Cleaning scents
The Scent Scribes were careful to suggest scents dogs would know – or would want to know. However, sometimes they suggested scents that didn’t go with Scout’s recipes.
Like cleaning supplies – rubbing alcohol, bleach, dish detergent, feather dusters. These scents didn’t belong in a story about wolf caves. But the Scent Scribes thought they would be good for cleaning other scents. Sort of like licking a new puppy’s eyes so they could see better.
However, when they cleaned the scents, they also removed them. The scent of detergent removed the scent of leftover food. Bleach removed bath and shower scents, like rubber duckies and blueberry soap.
Feather dusters didn’t really clean, they just moved scents from one spot to another. But the scent of dust bunnies stayed where it was. This made it easy for dogs to find and sniff them. They could always sniff the dust mites too.
Fairy dust was different. It was sweet and light and it couldn’t be removed. The Scent Scribes used it for things like magic carpets. Or stories about curing insomnia.
