Obsession
By JudyL
June 6, 2010
The bullpen bustled with people, detectives doing what they did every day, calling on leads, questioning suspects, typing reports. Everything was business as usual… except for one thing.
Blair frowned as he watched his partner get up from his desk for the third time. The first time he’d gone for coffee, solicitously stopping and asking Rafe and Brown if they’d like some as well.
Of course, Blair didn’t get offered a cup. The second time, Jim had made a beeline for the donut cart, stopping by Rafe’s desk to see if he would like anything. Neither Brown nor Blair got a thing out of that trip.
Now, for the third time, Jim made his way over to Detective Brian Rafe’s desk, this time with only a pen in hand. A brand new pen that had been part of a desk set that Blair had given him for his birthday a few weeks ago. Blair watched as confused embarrassment covered Brian’s face. Rafe sent a desperate look Blair’s way as he shook his head at whatever Jim was saying. All Blair could see was Jim holding the pen out, as if offering it to Rafe.
Blair’s frown deepened. Something strange was going on.
Jim stayed where he was, but Henri Brown, Rafe’s partner, sauntered over to Blair’s desk and leaned a hip on the corner.
“What’s up with your partner today, Hairboy?” he asked, his confusion clear in his voice.
“I’m not sure, H. What just happened over there?” Blair asked as they continued to watch Rafe get redder and redder.
“Jimbo offered Rafe that pen,” Brown replied. “Didn’t you give it to him for his birthday?”
“Uh huh,” Blair said distractedly. Something was niggling at the back of his mind. Something he’d read recently.
“Now he’s trying to get Rafe to agree to go to lunch later,” Brown said. “Of course,” he continued sarcastically, “we’re invited, too.”
Blair chewed on his lower lip. Could be pheromones… “Wait!” he said aloud as he remembered. Blair turned to his computer and got on the internet. He typed in a few search words and waited for the links to come up. “Bingo!” he said.
“What?” Brown asked.
“What cologne is Brian wearing?” Blair asked.
“Huh?” Brown said suavely.
“What cologne is he wearing today?”
“Um, I don’t know, something new… he mentioned it earlier. Something his girl friend bought him… by Calvin Klein, I think.”
“Obsession for Men?” Blair asked.
“Yeah, that’s it. Haven’t tried it myself, kinda rich for my blood,” H said with a laugh.
Blair nodded, stood up and went over to Jim and Rafe. He caught Rafe by the arm and dragged him away from a protesting Jim.
A few minutes later they came back with Rafe looking like he’d just showered, in fact, wearing a completely different set of clothes.
“What was that about, Chief?” Jim asked as he looked over at Rafe. He did a double take, shook his head and just looked sort of confused.
“You were reacting to his cologne, Jim,” Blair said, tossing the gym bag with Rafe’s previous set of cloths in them. “Open it.”
Jim did as instructed and instantly smiled, a goofy, happy, kind of sloppy smile you’d expect to see only when directed at a particularly lovely lady.
Blair grabbed the bag and zipped it up. “Go put this in your car, Brian.”
Jim shook his head as Rafe left and narrowed his eyes. “What the hell?”
“Look at this, Jim,” Blair said, motioning for his computer.
On the screen was a scientific report about Calvin Klein’s Obsession for Men being used to lure jaguars toward cameras for study.
“I’d guess the pheromones they use in the cologne were like cat nip for you, Jim,” Blair said with a grin.
“Cat nip?” Jim growled distractedly as he watched his spirit guide sniff Rafe’s chair before rubbing his face on it.
Blair just laughed not seeing the jaguar as it jumped onto Rafe’s chair and started purring.
The end.
Note: This story was inspired by a news report about CK’s Obsession for Men. It is indeed being used in the jungle to help lure jaguars toward cameras so they can be counted and studied. See the article below and a couple of links to different stories. I just couldn’t resist<G>.
Feedback is nurtured and given chocolate. JudyL
Scientists use Calvin Klein cologne to lure jaguars
GUATEMALA CITY
Wed Jun 9,
2010 9:29pm EDT
(Reuters Life!) - Biologists tracking
jaguars in the Guatemalan jungle might smell nice but it's all in the name of
science, with researchers finding the Calvin Klein cologne Obsession for Men
attracts big cats.
Biologists Rony Garcia and Jose Moreira from
the Wildlife Conservation Society's (WCS) Jaguar Conservation Program say they
use hidden cameras as a primary source for observing and tracking jaguars in Guatemala's
Maya Biosphere Reserve.
But they also rely on
Obsession for Men, a cologne known for its complex scent, to help lure then
research and hopefully ultimately preserve jaguars in the Central American
country.
"The method we
are using to study the jaguars here in Guatemala is a non-invasive method which
is based on photographing the individuals by using camera traps," Moreira told Reuters Television.
"It has been very
useful using Obsession (for Men) to get the jaguars in front of these camera
traps ... and that allows us to estimate with greater confidence the genders
and the numbers that live in each studied site."
The discovery that
Obsession for Men acted as a magnet for jaguars was the result of an experiment
by the WCS's Bronx Zoo in New York.
The WCS was looking
for ways to get cheetahs in front of camera traps, and, after several years of
testing with different fragrances, found spraying the musky Obsession For Men near the heat-and-motion-sensitive cameras drew the
cats for longer than other scents.
They also tried out
about 23 other fragrances but Obsession for Men kept the cats' attention for
longest with Nina Ricci's L'Air du Temps coming
second.
The practice made its
way down to Guatemala, where Garcia and Moreira said
they have been recording similar success in the wild since 2007, allowing them
to track jaguars and even record their mating rituals.
Garcia said the
results will be invaluable to conservation efforts.
"These camera
traps help us to identify how many jaguars are living in this area ... (and)
helps us to have control over the population and lets us say to the government,
to the public, that Laguna del Tigre still deserves
conservation," he said.
The WCS said it
tentatively plans to expand the use of the cologne in programs in Venezuela,
Nicaragua, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador in coming years.
(Writing by Reuters
Television, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6584WV20100610
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/11/jaguars-calvin-klein-obsession-scent