People have told Dennett that sometimes his bedside manner was maybe a little...less than optimally comforting. He may have run into someone even worse.

"What I did?" Hello, it was that feral, slavering, revolting, disease ridden RAT! "I was just trying to get that abomination off me!" And doing it...really poorly, by the evidence.

He tries to get some control over his breath but it's hard because is there some bubbling under there? "I'm...perfectly calm." He's also lying, but it's the kind of lie you tell yourself because you want to believe it.