The story was ridiculous, and the journalists who gathered in the Egyptian-themed room where Bara was presented to them, amid choking clouds of scent, knew it.
Names - 'I knew a French count so like you' - drop from him like clouds of scent; he displays the tassels on his jeans, sleeves and shirt as if he were showing off prize pets.
The five-and-tens all wore warm clouds of perfume and candy scent just inside the entrance doors, and some had pet shops, with canaries and parakeets and goldfish, at the back.
Clouds of apple scent drift across the concrete plaza, drawing young and old alike to the tiny white cottage recently sprung up in front of the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.
Close-up on the facial: the recessed lighting lowered, a gentle cloud of steam, lightly scented with lavender, was directed onto my face.
At the table closest to the screen, a Yemeni dressmaker, a Palestinian flea-market peddler, and a Jordanian graduate student were staring at footage of a bombed Baghdad neighborhood and occasionally releasing clouds of smoke scented with honey and apple.
Two women are kissing on the screen in front of me, one slowly getting penetrated by a man from behind; a cloud of Ikea's vanilla scent permeates my room.
About 10 years ago there was a TV advert for men's the deodorant Lynx that, in its own particular laddish fashion, presented a procession of beautiful "ideal women" who could be persuaded to display counterintuitive attitudes when confronted by a man liberally doused in a cloud of the brand's macho, musky scent.
John Inverdale is glued to his spot, whiffing his own scent, the mushroom cloud of gaffe he is constantly emitting.
