Close Encounters of the Cheryl Kind

...so this morning I woke up early to take care of my animals, and by animals, I mean mice. No, not the huge overfed mice we see scurrying the streets of NY, but the sterile, diet-restricted ones with one or two toes missing. Anyway...I felt so dirty and smelly after that I scurried over to my apartment to (for lack of a better word) "de-fluff". I re-combed my hair, aired out my clothes and brushed my teeth. As to what brushing my teeth had to do with de-fluffing, I don't know either. After, I headed back to work and in the lobby came across George, our favorite PI but a PI nevertheless.

Here's our first exchange verbatim:

George: So...how are things? What'cha been up to?
Me: Not much.
George nodding.
Me: (thinking that I've just blown my cover) Er...uh...actually, a lot...I have A LOT that I'm doing. Yea, A LOT.
George nodding and smiling.
George (to himself): Man, she's weird.

Our second exchange inside the elevator:

Silence.
Me: Er...I uh...smell like a mouse.
George: You what? There was a mouse? In your apartment?
Me: (emphatically) NO! I mean, I was in the mouse room this morning and I smell like a mouse...you know, that mouse smell.
George nodding and smiling.
Silence.
George: You know patients with PKU have a mousy odor about them.
Me: Really? That's interesting.
George: Yea.
Me: Wow...so they smell like mice. Wow.
George: Well...no, because we treat them.
Me: Oh, so not yet. I mean...I uh...yea, that's funny.
George: Yea. Funny.
Whoosh! Elevator doors open. Thank God!

And I'm supposed to be getting my PhD!