Not on my desk, but on my lap in my hotel bed were lots and lots of bookplates:
Unfortunately, our grand adventure in Hong Kong turned out to be not so adventuresome and not so grand. I caught something on the airplane which turned out to be the most virulent and persistent germ that I've had in a long, long time. When characters in books or movies get ill, they are still somehow lovely--just more wan, frail. Sometimes they are even more ethereally beautiful, like Beth in "Little Women." That, however, is not me. For, not only was I toad-like with a bellowing cough, I was oozing all kinds of disgusting goo and bodily fluids.
I was so gross that the school took pity on me and rearranged the schedule so that I could get an afternoon off to rest and (hopefully) get better. So instead of seeing sights of Hong Kong, I laid in my hotel bed, coughing, blowing my nose and signing bookplates. I hope they sanitized the bookplates before they gave them to the kids.
