Public Notice: The small but powerful matriarchal nation of Kate has just made a bid to declare SueLynn as a Saint of the People for her humanitarian work in providing peanut butter and rasinettes to the downtrodden and suffering....



I think the fever has broken. It's now at around 99.8, but that seems fine to me. I'll take it. Because after three straight days of laying in my bed in fever and pain, I'll take just about anything.

I think Mother India hates me.

I'm just happy to not be alone. Anita brought me trays of food and played backgammon, and Carmel came and laid on my bed and talked about love, life and literature (the world's greatest topics). Stan let me become a fixture in his room (it has a television, and since being sick I've learned a lot about the mystical snow leopard of Pakistan and the beautiful snakes of India!) and as he stepped around me I asked, "do you want me to go?" and he said, "No. I'm use to you." And Felicity checked on me most every hour with toast and tea, and vomit buckets, and even cleared aside my piles of books and papers so I could "vomit proper, without spraying every which way."

And then she took me to the hospital because the pain in my body was really so bad. It hurt to touch my own arm. And I cried, because hospitals scare me. And she asked why I was crying. And I said, "because I wanted to be strong enough." And India isn't always what you think, she smiled and said. No, I replied, also smiling. I imagined it would smell of spice and jasmine. Felicity said, "one time, on one of my first visits to India, I was heading down south and at that time there was no direct flight, so you had to fly out of Mumbai (bombay) and then catch a seven hour bus ride. Anyways, one of the times there were problems with the flight and it ended up being 12 hours late. It was such a horribly long day and I was so frustrated, but when we landed we stepped off the plane and the air smelled like Jasmine and incense - and I would have done the whole trip again, just for that moment."

The blood tests came back negative, which means no Malaria (and there was much rejoicing), and it's most likely that I have some sort of a virus, that will pass with time (I'm a virus collector, by the way. Not by choice, but it appears to have become a hobby with me).

So the good news is that I will be ok. Anyways, I think I cried most of it out of my system by now. And also. Also. Also. Esther showed up at my door yesterday declaring, "special delivery" and in her hand was a HUGE box from SueLynn full of peanut butter, and rasinettes, and peanut butter m&m's and art supplies so I can color, and holiday decorations and a birthday present and it was huge and it was the best present ever! And I started bouncing up and down, but that hurt, so I just hugged it all to my chest; unpacking it and then repacking it so I could unpack it all over again.

And now I'm getting well on peanut butter.

November is soon. At which point I will only have a month left. Can you believe it? So much still to do. I want to see the Himalayas.

But I'm tired now and need to head back to bed. But tomorrow I will try to make it here again to tell you about the Sunderbans, the only place in the world where tigers still actively hunt humans - killing up to 80 people a year. I have to tell you. tomorrow.

Thanks for all the well wishes. It means a lot. I miss home.