The case of the odious odor

A godawful chemical smell was coming from the cabinet under the kitchen sink. Did a plastic bottle of cleaning product leak? Did a container of cleanser tip over?

We checked every bottle and container. Nothing wrong. What the deuce?

And then we realized: we had bought a roll of scented trash bags by mistake. The roll is now close to its end, or center. The smell apparently gets much stronger as the roll dwindles down.

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September 8: Paul Drake dropped in and figured out the real source of the smell: not the now-dwindling roll of trash bags we’ve been using but a new box of bags, yet to be opened. “The smell is coming from inside the box!” Paul exclaimed. “And the box isn’t even open yet,” Perry Mason added.

The box goes back to the store this afternoon, wrapped in a trash bag to keep the smell from stinking up the car.