She could almost hear David Sherman take his mental inventory. Media, test tubes, plates, and his prepped plasmid for later - with the proper mock, of course.
He lit the burner, and just as he was reaching for a sterile toothpick … Janine gave the slightest wink, and a crimson flame jumped from the nozzle, licking the ceiling.
David leapt back into his chair, sliding and crashing into Vadim’s bench. Vadim turned around slowly.
“Are you alright, David?” he inquired politely, slowly.
“Did you see that? The flame – it just exploded! I wonder if there’s something wrong with the gas in this room.”
Janine stifled a giggle, and bowed her head, feigning interest in her pipetting.
Vadim gave David a quizzical look. “It looks alright to me.” Sure enough, David turned around and a tiny flame was sputtering on his bench.
“You know,” Vadim continued. “In Kazakhstan, sometimes we would have to use a welding torch to sterilize our equipment. It made working with toothpicks quite problematic.”
David’s heart was still racing. He was not sure how to respond.
“Well,” Vadim said, putting on his helmet. “I am off to go bouldering. I will see you tomorrow at 5am, or whenever it is that you come in.”
Janine couldn’t say what it was that had come over her over the past few days. She was feeling … sassy? No, that’s not the right word. Mischievous? Closer, but wrong order of magnitude. She wondered if it was endorphins from the jazz aerobics course she had started last week.
“Oh my god,” the other David shouted, “look at that!” The other lab members ran to the window, following his outstretched arm. The bike rack, barely in view from the Kahne Lab, was covered by squirrels and what appeared to be rats.
“That’s weird, they seem to be chewing at the tires.” Mithila sounded perplexed and a bit disgusted.
“That's … that’s my bike!” Vadim explained. He reached into his back for a long knife, and ran for the door.
Janine smiled and went back to pipetting.
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