Ca(ClO)2

The smell of chlorine, diluted, ignites my forebrain. Olfactory receptors fill as sensory waves focus into breakers that plunge me into an ocean of childhood. My olfactory bulb explodes with data that swamp my hippocampus, unbridling carefree childhood memories of a life lived as a cartoon. The first--the very first--cranial nerve gatecrashes my amygdala, which explodes with emotion. The route of propagated impulses is as short as it is direct. Calcium hypochlorite lifts me into an out-of-body experience of summer poolside horseplay, belly-busters, and face-splashing. (I still smell each splash). Nerve conduction hijacks my recollection, selectively rewriting my memoirs. These revisions are etched in arrears, written--over the head of my childhood ability to savor such moments--by someone who can fully appreciate them long after. Poolside, even today, I inhale deeply and taste my child, relive childhood snapshots, and find a happiness under the lock and key of biochemistry.