Stephen King was wrong....Randall Flag shape-shifts as a Norwich Terrier

Last night I had a dream in which I was being set up on various murder charges by a demonic Norwich Terrier. It was as if I was watching a horror movie (which I don't watch because they give me nightmares), except I was in it.

And I didn't even WATCH Bush's speech. Maybe it was watching Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson making fun of a fat Jewish travel writer (who richly deserved to be made fun of, might I add) on the Travel Channel for an hour that did it. Or maybe it was watching Bobby Jon Drinkard's near-death expeience on Survivor: Guatemala. Or maybe it was the eight cloves of garlic I put into the lovely sauteed chicken with eggplant and fresh tomato that I made last night. I dunno.

But this dream, coming on the heels of news yesterday that three lab mice infected with bubonic plague are missing from a NJ research lab, makes me either more or less inclined to read The Stand again:

Authorities are searching for three mice infected with bubonic plague that disappeared from a research laboratory about two weeks ago.

While health experts say the risk to the public is slim to none, the incident highlights ongoing security failures at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

The mice went missing from the lab of the Public Health Research Institute, which is located on the UMDNJ campus and conducts bioterrorism research for the federal government.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FBI are investigating, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported in Thursday's newspapers. The rodents may have been eaten by other laboratory animals, although the possibility that they have been stolen has prompted the institute to interrogate two dozen of its employees and conduct some lie detector tests, the newspaper said.

UMDNJ did not immediately return a call seeking comment Thursday morning.

If the mice got outside the lab, New Jersey Health Commissioner Fred Jacobs said they would have already died from the disease.

Federal official said the mice may never be accounted for.

When the government says there's nothing to worry about, that's when you start worrying.