Love Stinks

Normally, Love takes no prisoners. Then one of his hunting sprees backfired (literally), and Love was skunked.

Eyes watering, Love tried to slink back into the house. He looked affronted when Adam pushed him back out onto the porch. He looked doubly affronted when, a minute later, Adam started smearing him with V8.

That rumor about tomatoes neutralizing skunk odor? It's bunk. Love emerged from his V8 bath a sticky and faintly orange cat. He still reeked.

For the record, here's a formula that does work.

• 1 quart hydrogen peroxide
• 1 quarter cup baking soda
• 1 teaspoon liquid soap

Love is still pinkish-orange around the face from bath #1. But at least bath #2 banished most of the smell.

Skunks are very humorous animals, don't you think? I dressed up as a skunk for Halloween last year. It's an easy costume: black pants, black hooded sweatshirt, white stripe down head and back. Add a tail to the pants (one white and a few black faux-marabou strips, wrapped around a wire), some ears to the hood, and you're good to go. You can also add a skunky nose, by painting black the underside of your nose -- that's the under-tip and skin around the nostrils.

Maybe it's predictable, but, once I was a skunk, I wanted to be Pepé Le Pew. So I pinned a few hearts to my costume. And Adam dressed in black as my hapless kitty-cat prey.

Did I mention that we wore these outfits for my little cousins' Halloween party? (I'm realizing that all of this begins to sound a little bizarre without that context.) My conservative cop uncle stared a minute at Adam and at the giant pink bow around his neck. Then he offered Adam a beer.