Cough-A-Thon

I gave a midterm exam this morning to a class that sounded like it was competing in a Cough-A-Thon. I suppose all those coughs and sniffles could have been part of an elaborate system of secret signals: two coughs = "True," three coughs = "False," and a cough-sniffle-cough combination = "Robert Frost." An alert brain might have detected a pattern in the coughing, but my brain is less than alert thanks to a bout of night-time sniffles. My head feels like an oozing mass of phlegm, if phlegm had little feet that could tap-dance inside my nasal cavities. Good thing I don't have to lecture today. Another exam (and another Cough-A-Thon) this afternoon, and then home to sleep. Meanwhile, here's some free financial advice: invest in Kleenex.