Quote of the Day: Believe Anyone Who Smells Gas

This one's from Jane Dykema, writing in general about the massive refusal to simply believe women:

"One night we had a thrilling summer storm, bright and crashing, wind and rain blowing into the house from every direction. I wanted to open all the doors and windows wider and run around, but it was better for the house, the wood, to close them tight. We hadn’t been in the house long, and it was the first time in this house we’d had to close all the windows. In the morning I smelled gas, strong, unmistakable. 'I smell gas,' I said to my husband. 'I don’t smell it,' he said. He had a friend come over. 'Why are you having a friend come over,' I asked, 'when it doesn’t matter if he can smell it or not, and none of us can fix it?' His friend didn’t smell it, either. I called the gas company. The gas company employee didn’t smell it, either. He waved his reader around and it blasted off in three places, substantial leaks behind the stove and in the basement. 'Always trust a woman’s nose,' the gas company employee said.

Yes, I thought, believe us.

Then, No, I thought, I’m not a fucking witch. Believe anyone who smells gas. If someone smells gas, believe them."

It's good advice.