"There might be, but until we find out about the blood, I'm not sure what."
"Even people with blood have plenty of other things in them too," says Chris. "Bones and muscles and organs, for example."
"Harder to check. There's a way to look at someone's bones without doing any gross or harmful things, but it needs expensive equipment I don't have."
"This sounds complicated. How do you know everybody else has blood?"
"I haven't personally checked. But I've never heard of anyone else who didn't. And it would be hard not to notice, and if someone did notice and didn't decide to hide it, a lot of people would get very excited and we'd hear about it almost for sure."
"Is it a secret that I don't thump and might not have blood?"
"It should probably be a secret. Otherwise a lot of people will get very excited about you, and some of them might not be nice."
"Lizbeth and Gina know."
"Lizbeth and Gina are both sensible people and I don't think they'll be telling anyone."
"Euagh!" is Katie's reaction to the alcohol-soaked wipes they obtained with the lancets.
"...Euagh?" says Chris, pausing in the act of removing the wipe from its little square packet.
"The purpose of the euagh is to make your skin clean so that when I poke a hole in it, nothing gets in that could make you sick. So yes, you have to touch it. But not for very long."
"I'm pretty sure the euagh is better at getting things the right kind of clean than washing your hands is. But if you really don't want to touch it, yes, you can just wash your hands."
"I really don't want to touch it. It's not for touching." Katie gets up and goes to the bathroom and washes her hands and comes out again. She looks suspiciously at the euagh.
The euagh has been returned to its packet and partly folded up, and what little of it remains visible is looking very nonthreatening.
Katie holds out her hand, satisfied that she won't have to touch a thing that is not for touching.
From her fingertip wells a drop of pale, clear liquid.