As a continuation from the previous Litterbox, I would like to delve slightly into the subject of the air freshener. Now, we’ve all gone to our litterbox–yes?–found them and told them that they hold the key to our hearts, sand or whatever we want to call it. But what about all those other people in our lives? What about all the people who we care about, like to be around, but don’t hold that deep affection for as we do our litterboxes? What about all those “second best friends” who we like to have around for a laugh, but don’t quite feel like telling them the things that are bothering us?

The people who are around for the mere need for laughs and fun and human connection are our air fresheners. They have a knack for keeping us lively and well when there is strife in the litterbox. They are not there to solve our problems, but to cover up the scent of our wounds. There is nothing wrong with air fresheners, as they are essential to staying happy when our problems are being sorted out with our litterboxes.

My cat understands this well. There is no doubt that she appreciates the convenience of her litterbox sitting in the corner of my bedroom rather than, say, outside. To completely put the litterbox out of sight is unsettling; any of us would agree that avoiding our litterbox friends for a week as our problems are being sorted is a less than ideal situation. It is, however, preferred to be out of mind or, in my cat’s case, out of range of the nose. What can be used to cover up the stench, though? For my cat, is it a can of lavender scented Febreze.For high schoolers, it is the “casual friend,” or the air freshener. Now, there are as many different scents of air freshener as there are different types of casual friends. Here are just a few:

• Simple and potent: these friends are those who are often the “inserts” who you see in the hallways. They are acquaintances, talk to you occasionally, and are easy to begin a casual conversation with. They take a resemblance to the scent of clean sheets or an ocean breeze.
• Sweet and careful: they are the easiest to connect to, talk to, and befriend. Commonly gentle of the heart and careful of the speech, these friends will always be there as a supportive acquaintance. My cat would say they smell like flowers.
• Exciting and distracting: these friends tend to take you away from your problems by involving you in something else; something like a party or a movie. Their scent would be of a tropical fruit.

Halloween is arriving, that we all know, but what does it mean for us? This means that we can fill our lives with all different types of air fresheners. When holidays come upon us, we have our own little excuse to talk to every person we meet, wishing them a happy Halloween. There is no reason we can’t expand ourselves to our fullest, happiest potential as we were made to do. There is nothing wrong with having strife in our lives as long as we are sure to also fill our lives with the company of our like-minded peer group, also known as litterboxes and air fresheners. And hey, perhaps instead of giving your air fresheners candy, you can give them little samples of their corresponding Febreze scents instead.