2.2 Post-shower Manila Bay
Friday. Afternoon. That Avenue. I rushed out the building eager to get where I had to go, which was home. But the air was damp and the skies were gray - it looked like rain. The air seemed to grow thicker, and it was harder to breathe. I could smell the black smoke from passing belching cars, grainy earthy cement from a nearby construction site and the dampness of a wet pavement.
They were all usual smells, but then this stench grew with each step, one that was fishy, like the scent of the ocean - but not the good kind. It wasn't like a-day-at-the-beach kind of smell. It had this rustic, metal-ly odor. It was kind of like at that time we passed by Manila Bay after a huge shower, as trash was being accumulated by its edge. A combination garbage and sea water rushing at my face with each gust of wind. It wasn't pleasant.