Smell Peace and Happiness
April 4, 2023 – Muncie, Indiana, USA
Chelsea did not intend to change how the world smelled. Her initial interest in smells was more local. She simply wanted to do something with her office, where she worked as a newly certified accountant.
She arrived in time for 2022’s tax season and was desperate for ways to cope with the stress. When she walked through her local Bath and Body Works store and saw the Wallflower plugins promising stress relief, she bought a heating unit and five glass replacement vials. Inside was liquid packed with eucalyptus and mint extracts.
It may have all been in her head, but Chelsea was convinced the eucalyptus and mint calmed her down. Even after becoming almost nose blind to the scent, she continued to replace used-up vials. Every three weeks she ended up with another empty glass container. It seemed wasteful to throw them away, so she collected them in a desk drawer.
Tax season for 2023 approached and Chelsea ran out of empty vial storage space. She could either dump the collection or find a use for them. As she thought about how much each new vial cost, she suddenly wondered if they were recyclable. Could she find replacement liquid and pour it into the empty bottles?
Chelsea checked the Bath and Body Works website. There was nothing about recycling or how to purchase large jars of stress relief liquid. Then Chelsea stumbled upon a YouTube video made by a woman calling herself SmellaBarbara. The video was about mixing up homemade scents which could be placed into any plugin air freshener.
SmellaBarbara was obsessed with everything aromatic. She preached that life was too short to breathe plain air. Every breath could be a boost to mind and body if you wanted it to be. While she loved spreading the news about scentology, she hated the big corporations charging outrageous prices for smells. She dedicated her life to delivering smell happiness for free, or at least at a small fraction of the cost you might pay at Bath and Body Works.
Chelsea found a SmellaBarbara video specifically showing how to recycle Wallflower vials. In the video, SmellaBarbara was surrounded by measuring cups and jars filled with colorful liquids. She wore a daisy-print apron and bifocal glasses attached to a chain. As she mixed up her concoctions, she took deep whiffs and shouted, “Delicious!”
While Chelsea laughed at SmellaBarbara’s bizarre enthusiasm, she was happy to follow the advice on do-it-yourself scent mixology. According to SmellaBarbara, the easiest starting point for beginners was to purchase essential oil samples from a supermarket. These oils were squeezed from plants and had been used for making perfumes for centuries.
During Chelsea’s next supermarket visit, she stopped at the health and vitamin aisle. She found one-ounce bottles of all the oils SmellaBarbara loved: mint, equcalyptus, tea tree, lavender, and citrus. She also found a larger bottle of scentless almond oil, which could be used as a base. Chelsea added them all to her grocery cart and called them her essential oil starter kit.
When she returned home, Chelsea rewatched SmellaBarbara’s videos before removing the tops from her empty Wallflower vials. She poured in almond oil before adding twenty drops each of eucalyptus and mint. She wanted to start by duplicating the stress relief formula from Bath and Body Works. She took her homemade vial to the office, inserted it into the warming unit, and left it to simmer overnight.
The next morning, Chelsea took a long and deep breath directly above the Wallflower. She caught the same eucalyptus and mint sensation her nose usually enjoyed. But maybe it was less intense and not as minty. She called over Meena, whose office was next door.
“Does it smell the same in here?”
Meena sniffed. Then she sniffed again. “Maybe not as strong.”
“I’m experimenting with my own scents. I can add more drops to the mixture to make it stronger.”
“Oh, you’re a chemist now?”
Chelsea laughed. “Kind of. A kitchen chemist with a lot to learn.”
From that point on, Chelsea jumped nose-first into scent making. Every three days, she altered the mixture in her office, keeping careful track of the number of essential oil drops used. She added tea tree oil to the eucalyptus and mint combination and had her accountant colleagues rate the smell after it had time to settle in her office. She was surprised by how much she liked the sensation of invention. She felt like a scientist and chef.
After settling on the perfect combination of eucalyptus, mint, and tea tree, Chelsea began to experiment with drops of citrus. After letting a mixture designated 5543 permeate her office overnight, she stepped inside the next morning and instantly felt happy. The feeling was effortless. It was as if sunshine warmed her face on a cold winter day. It was like laughing with a friend and falling in love and every other pleasure she could remember. All the sensory nerves in her nose overwhelmed her brain with mental candy. Chelsea remembered something SmellaBarbara had said about smells being the gateway to memory and emotion.
“Meena! Can you come in here?” Chelsea called.
When Meena walked in, her facial features softened. A faraway look appeared in her eyes. She dropped into a chair and stared straight ahead, wearing a smile.
“You smell it, too, don’t you?” Chelsea asked.
“I feel like crying. Happy crying. I can’t tell you why,” Meena said quietly.
Chelsea called for more of her coworkers. They crowded into her office and refused to leave. Meena asked them not to breathe so hard because they were taking all the smell.
Noah, an officemate who had been cynical about Chelsea’s experiments, now said, “You could totally sell this. I’d buy it and I usually hate air fresheners and candles and all that smelly stuff.”
“I’ll buy it too,” echoed others in the crowded room. “How much do you want for it?”
“You should start a company,” Noah added. “You could be a millionaire. A billionaire.”
Chelsea spent the rest of the day pushing people out of her office and promising to deliver plugins for everyone. Her mind quickly calculated how much profit she could make if people were willing to pay $5 per vial of liquid. They might even pay $10 per vial. She did an internet search for numbers of scent plugins sold each year. Noah was right. She could own her own jet with 5543 money.
Chelsea’s dreams of riches lasted into the night. She thought about how she might start out by selling her new scent from her home. She could build a website and mix up liquids in her kitchen. She could go to swap meets or maybe rent a booth in the mall. None of the details appealed to her. She liked being an inventor and accountant. Other people were better suited for growing a business. Her mind turned to the idea of selling her scent to an existing company. Let them worry about manufacturing and distribution.
The next day, Chelsea stopped in at the Bath and Body Works store holding a sample of her magical scent. She found a friendly manager and discretely asked if she could share something interesting. “I mix up my own scents and I came up with something pretty amazing.”
“We better go to a back room, so my nose doesn’t get confused by all the other smells around,” the manager said.
In what was essentially a closet, Chelsea plugged in her Wallflower and the manager got a whiff of the new mixture. Her eyes shot open and she moved her nose closer.
“Oh, that’s good. That’ve very good. It’s like I can guess the ingredients, but then again, maybe I can’t.” She closed her eyes contentedly.
“Do you think the company would be interested?”
“I hope so. You’d have to talk with someone at headquarters in Columbus. They do all the product development. I actually know someone I could connect you with.”
Three days later, after speaking with the manager’s friend, Bill, Chelsea was on her way to Columbus, Ohio. The drive took two and a half hours and she left early enough so that she arrived in the corporate lobby by 9 am. Bill and a coworker showed up wearing white laboratory coats. They led Chelsea to a spacious workroom filled with beakers, test tubes, and cabinets labeled with long chemical names. Posters of exotic plants hung on the walls.
“We’re excited to smell what you’ve come up with,” Bill said matter-of-factly.
“Do you have an outlet where I can plug this in?” Chelsea asked, holding up her Wallflower.
Bill gestured toward a lab bench and Chelsea warmed up the liquid inside the vial. “Give it a few minutes.”
Bill nodded like he understood. When the first hints of the smell drifted toward him, he flinched as his mouth dropped in surprise. He moved closer to the Wallflower and closed his eyes. He whispered, “Extraordinary.”
Chelsea smiled with satisfaction. She had impressed a professional. Bill had probably sampled millions of scents, but hers stood out.
“How did you do it?” Bill asked in amazement.
“The ingredients are simple. All natural. I just found the right combination.”
“I’m always skeptical. I get pitched new ideas all the time, but this goes beyond a simple smell. It’s primal. It lights up all your nerve endings.”
“It surprised me too.”
“We don’t advertise this, but we pay $25,000 when someone brings us a scent we use. Plus a percentage of sales. You would need to leave us a sample to analyze.”
Chelsea excitedly pulled a second vial of her 5543 mixture from her handbag. “That sounds great. I would love for you to start selling this. I mean, I want to share it with people.”
Chelsea shook hands with Bill and his coworker and they promised to be in touch soon. She drove home thinking about what percentage she would earn on all the bottles sold. At even one percent, she would make millions.
Over the next several days, Chelsea daydreamed about what she would buy first with her Bath and Body Works windfall. She settled on a new car with the initial $25,000, then a big house once the royalty payments started to arrive. She expected a phone call from Bill or the company lawyers, but they were strangely quiet. Then a short email message arrived. “We have decided not to pursue your product idea.”
Chelsea carefully re-read the message and checked the email addresses. There had to be a mistake! The rejection must have been intended for someone else. Bill was so enthusiastic. He had never smelled anything like it. Chelsea replied to the message and called Bill’s phone, but she could not get a response. After twenty-four hours, she sunk into crushed despair.
“You shouldn’t give up,” Meena told her. “There are lots of other companies out there who could be interested.”
“But this seemed so perfect. Like it was meant to be.”
“When one door closes, time to look for another one.”
“I know. I will.”
Despite what she said, the thought of reaching out to big smell companies left Chelsea intimidated. Instead, she concentrated on mixing up samples of 5543 for friends and officemates and enjoying their reactions.
Two months after her trip to Columbus, she happened to walk past her local Bath and Body Works store. They were putting up bright yellow displays for a new product line being rushed out in time for the holidays. The scent was called “Peace and Happiness” and it was available in soaps, sprays, candles, lotions, and wall plugs. As soon as the first hint reached Chelsea’s nose, she knew they were using her magic smell. The sensation was unmistakable, although not as powerful. She purchased some samples and took them to the office.
“They totally ripped you off!” Meena cried after one sniff.
“You need to sue,” Noah added. “This is totally wrong.”
“They seemed so nice,” Chelsea said in a miserable voice. “But how would I ever prove I came up with it?”
“We’ll be your witnesses,” Meena replied.
“Yeah, but do I really want to get involved with a bunch of lawyers and lawsuits? Sounds miserable and like a lot of work.”
Chelsea stewed about the stolen scent. At first, she felt violated, like someone had come into her home and stolen a diary or family heirloom. Then she felt angry. She had naively trusted Bill and all the other corporate stooges. They lied and acted like she did not exist. They should not be allowed to get away with it. Chelsea had one more strong emotion. It was kind of like the feeling of eating a meal and still feeling hungry. She was unfulfilled, and whether they knew it or not, every customer who bought “Peace and Happiness” would be too. They would never know the power of the scent at its true potency.
As Chelsea wondered how she might get revenge and fulfillment together, she remembered SmellaBarbara. The woman had seemed a little crazy, but now Chelsea understood all the rants about big smell corporations. Perhaps SmellaBarbara had been burned like Chelsea. SmellaBarbara’s mission was to bring people joy through smells. Chelsea wanted the same thing. SmellaBarabara had millions of followers and a voice loud enough to spread the word. Maybe it was time to team up.
Chelsea mixed up one more batch of the real “Peace and Happiness,” just to make sure she could reproduce it. She wrote down careful instructions and then composed an email message to SmellaBarbara. It began with, “I’m a big fan. I think we understand each other. Would you like to smell something that will change the world?”
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