There was a woman who smelled like almonds. She didn't use lotions or perfumes, she just naturally smelled like almonds.
She never really thought about it much. She was so used to the aroma that she did not notice it. Then one Sunday she thought she would go to a Quaker meeting. She liked the quiet of it and decided to return. The next Sunday there was a sign on the door - ``Please refrain from wearing perfume or scented cosmetics. Some persons are sensitive.'' She knew the sign was meant for her. She did not go in.
She tried to find out why she smelled so odd. She read about babies whose urine smelled like maple syrup, bacteria that smelled like grape KoolAid. Breath that smelled like lemon drops. But it was her skin that smelled. Finally she went to a doctor. He was very busy. She was not sick.
``It must be metabolic,'' he said, ``don't worry about it. Its not a bad smell.''
So she stopped worrying and went about her life.
She became a missionary nurse and worked in Africa for many years.
A very sick man was brought to the hospital where she worked. This was hardly unusual. People didn't come to the hospital unless they were at death's door. But this man had symptoms that brought fear to every heart. He was quickly isolated, but it was too late. The people who had cared for him were becoming ill themselves and dying and no one seemed to have resistance except the woman who smelled like almonds. She worked with the sickest people, did the work that others feared to do and day followed day and still she did not sicken. Her tireless work may have saved the few people who survived.
When the plague was at last contained, epidemiologists, immunologists, specialists in tropical diseases, unidentified persons from the armed services and eager graduate students all flocked about the almond scented woman and they did DNA array studies and convinced bacteria to reproduce her antibodies and they learned and learned a lot.
Soon all the woman's coworkers smelled of almonds too. They were now safe from the dread disease. They carried in their armory a new and different antibody that could protect them all their lives and there was talk of Nobel prizes.
But sometimes when the woman awoke and listened to the sounds of the tropic night, she would wonder to herself if something had been lost by this gain, some other strength now turned to weakness and yet to be found out.