Supposing the material to be the placenta of a whale that had given birth to a new calf at the amusement park, an employee took it home, where she planned to cook a portion of the blob-like substance for a stew she was preparing for her family's reunion a few days later. On her way home with the rubberized skin, she stopped at a grocery store, where, among other items, she bought various vials of food coloring. Thereafter, as she resumed driving home, she was involved in an accident with a tractor-trailer, and several bottles of the food coloring were broken, their contents staining the "latex," as the scientists had christened their aborted product. The blob-like stuff was a motley of bright colors, making it unusable for the purpose for which the employee had intended it, so she unloaded