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daunt me!
I will wed this woman! she says. The honeymoon will
be hair-raising!
Madame Schiaparelli. Mandala takes her hand. Do
you take this woman, Carrie Rodgers, to be your wife, until
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you murder her or become bored of her?
I . . . Schiaparelli doesn t say do. She shrieks, staggers
across the sound stage. Face hidden in hands. Scarlet sequins
bleed from between fingers.
Surprise! Silver snood, silver slippers, silver gloves
Chanel materializes in the middle of the Maze. Ensemble
slathered with silver sequins. She bleeds into mirrors. Vice
versa. She carries a full flaçon: Chanel Nº5. It s called
camouflage, she says. In order to steal into a Mirror Maze,
I dressed as a Mirror Maze.
She sprays Schiaparelli. Schiaparelli s skin and flesh burns
to bone. Sequins gush from sockets where eyes were.
Mirrors! The Carter Family clatters down the corridor,
mirrors tied to suits. Tied, taped, and safety-pinned.
Compact mirrors, pocket mirrors, purse mirrors. Squares
of silver foil. Mirror-colored.
Did you get her? Mother Maybelle says.
Is she dead? Sara says.
Is it safe? A.P. says.
Almost. Chanel stands over a cowering Schiaparelli.
Sequins betrayed you, Elsa, she says. Sequins are mirrors.
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Mirrors with holes. She sprays. Schiaparelli s a skull. The
Masque of the Pink Death!
I should have been able to smell you! Schiaparelli s skull
says.
Chanel Nº5? Chanel says.
I didn t dare wear it, she says. I wore a new scent.
The top note sugar, she says. Smells pink. Pink pop-
corn, pink cotton candy. Midway pinks mingling in a Mirror
Maze. Sounds nice, non?
The middle note is glass. Blended with the tinctures of
silver, steel, and lead crystal. I put in sweat, snot, nosebleed
blood. A sample of sputum. I secretly swabbed it during your
fashion show. Your defiled défilé. I added a drop of vinegar.
Carnies clean Mirror Mazes with it, Elsa. Did you know?
The base note is woodsy. The wood of these floorboards.
I decocted the odor, down to the dust, the spilled soda, the
bubble gum grafted like skin to pine. Shoe leather from
Sears. A soupçon of sawdust. A splash of pine oil. Did you
know you must never wax the floor of a Mirror Maze, Elsa?
It s dangerous.
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Do you see what I did, Elsa? I extracted the essence of
Mirror Maze. I am the Maze. The Maze is mine.
I am perfume! Schiaparelli s skull says. Parfum du
parfum! The Mirror Maze is my flaçon! My Baccarat bottle!
You are the flaw! Humans are flaws!
Chanel sprays her.
Schiaparelli disappears. A swirl of pink smoke.
You murdered Madame. I m lit in the creepiest colors,
yellow and red. You have not killed her style. I will carry on
her work. I will lay down my pen and pick up the needle. I
will sew clothes for stars like you, Mr. Rodgers. I will dress
country stars in freak couture fine fabrics in carnival
colors, festooned with rhinestones, crystals, and beads. I will
marry haute couture to hillbilly music and I will spread the
disease of sodomy! For I have found that nothing in this
world tastes better than the asses of Country-and-Western
stars nothing! Poof! I disappear.
He disappeared! Maybelle says.
Disappeared in a poof! Sara says.
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That seems appropriate, Chanel says.
Chanel and Maybelle and Sara laugh a lot.
I don t get it, A.P. says. What s the big joke?
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COME MORNING . . .
Jimmie Rodgers.
Carrie Rodgers. Jimmie Rodgers.
Carrie Rodgers. Jimmie Rodgers. Carrie Rodgers.
Jimmie Rodgers. Carrie Rodgers. Jimmie Rodgers. Carrie
Rodgers. Jimmie Rodgers. Carrie Rodgers. Jimmie Rodgers.
Carrie Rodgers.
Jimmie Rodgers and Carrie Rodgers in a Mirror Maze.
Sunlight streams into the Maze.
I love you, Jimmie says.
I love you, Carrie says, resting her head on his shoulder
pad.
Let s go, he says. Let s eat candy apples. Let s play the
Red Wheel. Let s ride the rides I hear the Tunnel of Love is
romantic. He kisses her. We re alive. Alive at a carnival! I
can sing again!
Are you sure you re ready? she says, touching the swell
in her stomach.
Ready as He coughs. Ready as I ll ever Coughs.
Coughs. Coughs. A stitch in his stomach. He can t stand up
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straight. It s nothing, he says, doubling over against glass.
A tickle. A little tickle.
TB, Carrie says.
I m fine. He s lying at her feet.
It s back. She sinks down beside him. His sleeve s sopping.
Sputum. It will dry stiffer than starch. Without Schiapar-
elli s satanic perfume, the carnival will kill you, she says.
You have to leave. You have to return to the Sanitarium.
So they can what slice me up? he says. Stab me with
syringes? Shut me in a room to rot? He coughs. I m Jimmie
Rodgers! The carnival singer! Who would I be if I stopped
He hacks. Hemorrhages. Blood and bits of bat shit.
Jimmie? She holds his head. Don t leave me!
Jimmie burbles. Blood puddles. A red clown shoe on the
floor.
We ll go to Coney Island. Carrie weeps. We ll ride the
roller coasters. The Cyclone. The Tornado. The sea air will do
you good. We ll go to Ocean Pier Park. We ll walk the board-
walk. We ll ride the Racing Derby. You can soak up the sun
the California sun. It will cure you. I know it will. Vampires,
like perfumes and TB bacteria, decay in daylight. Jimmie?
Jimmie, can you hear me? Say something, Jimmie!
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Jimmie Rodgers.
Carrie Rodgers. Jimmie Rodgers.
Carrie Rodgers. Jimmie Rodgers. Carrie Rodgers.
Jimmie Rodgers. Carrie Rodgers. Jimmie Rodgers. Carrie
Rodgers. Jimmie Rodgers. Carrie Rodgers. Jimmie Rodgers.
Jimmie Rodgers and Carrie Rodgers in a Mirror Maze.
Jimmie died.
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THE END
ShowThatSmells#3:SMELLS new cover 8/11/08 3:37 PM Page 1
Derek McCormack has written the most
delightfully innovative charmer of a book
a mini-masterpiece that keeps swelling with
invention long after you ve put it down. I can t
believe the smell of this novel! Guy Maddin
The Show That Smells
is the most SHOCKING story ever shown on the silver screen!
It s also the tale of Jimmie, a country music singer dying of
tuberculosis, and Carrie, his wife, who tries to save him by
selling her soul to a devil who designs HAUTE COUTURE
CLOTHING! Elsa is a powerful Parisian dress designer, and
a vampire. She wants to make Carrie look beautiful, smell
beautiful AND THEN SHE WANTS TO EAT HER! Will Carrie
survive as her slave? Will Jimmie be cured? Starring a host of
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