"I wish I had a dog, but they defecate too much and might eat my experiments." Arlene furrowed her brow and knelt in front of the dog, petting him. "It was a good thing the last dog I had only got into the barium sulfate." She yawned and got up, not wanting to dwell on the memory of taking her pet to the shelter out of fear he would gobble up a more harmful compound. She glanced at the lights, vaguely perplexed at the brightness, but found them painful to look at, so she was rubbing her eyes before she could have noticed the orbs in the fixtures. She remembered a granola bar she'd put in her purse in the morning and then promptly forgotten, so she took it out and munched greedily. She looked over at James. "Have you ever had pets?"