now he saw the shattered facades and broken roofs ; now he saw the shaggy birds ' nests on cornices and in glassless , gaping windows ; now hr allowed himself to actually smell the city , and that odor was not of fabulous spices and savory foods of the sort his mother had sometimes brought home from zabar 's but rather the stink of a mattress that has caught fire , smoldered awhile , and then been put out with sewer-water .