Free Finally & Forever by Robin Jones Gunn Page B

needed him.
    Whatever the reason, her prayer that fear be abolished had an immediate and powerful effect: the panic was gone.
    Another note to self: If you’re going to spend most of your young adult years asking God to bring more adventure into your life, don’t turn into a timid little coward when he answers your prayers in a big way. Trust him
.
    Reaching for the two pills in the envelope, she took them without water and told herself that all the unknowns could remain unknowns while she slept. She couldn’t do anything at the moment to hunt down the antibiotics. She couldn’t do anything if she had malaria. God knew. He cared. He could work out the details while she slept. Katie closed her eyes and felt as if she were being tucked in under an invisible blanket of peace.
    When she woke, Katie noticed that the rain had stopped. She checked her watch and saw that it was 5:40 in the evening. A gleam of sunset light found its way through the open space between the two nearly closed edges of the window curtains and left an amber line across Katie’s gray blanket.
    The wound on her shoulder still hurt, but the rest of her confusing symptoms seemed to have calmed down. She felt hungry and considered it a good sign she was ready for dinner. Getting up and washing her face, Katie hoped she would feel like her old energetic self pretty soon.
    She pulled her hair back into a ponytail, brushed her teeth, and changed into a less crumpled top. Pulling on her warmest jacket,she opened her door and took in the view of the verdant landscape drenched in melting, buttery light. It seemed like a different world from the one she had been sloshing through the past few days. The remaining raindrops on the deep green foliage gleamed like liquid emeralds.
    Something small and fluttery flew around Katie in somnolent loops. At first she thought it was a moth. But it didn’t behave like a moth. A twin to the languid creature joined it, and pretty soon Katie seemed to be caught up in the middle of a dance of these tiny insects with their thin, fairy wings.
    She stood still and watched them flutter around her. Reaching out her hand, Katie nearly caught one. The twilight glow of the evening gave them a luminescence like she never had seen on any insect in the United States.
    The door to the last room in Building A opened, and a short man exited wearing a business suit and carrying an umbrella. He was bald, had dark skin, and wore small, wire-rimmed glasses. He noticed Katie and said something in French as he walked toward her.
    “Hello,” Katie replied. “I’m sorry, I only speak English.”
    “Ah, yes,” he said, switching to English. “American?”
    “Yes.”
    “Are you on your way to dinner?”
    “Yes. I had to stop and watch these moths or whatever they are. They’re beautiful.”
    The man chuckled. “Those are not moths. They’re termites. Flying termites.”
    “Termites? Are you sure?”
    “Yes.
Absolument
. Where I live we call them flying peanuts.”
    “Why is that? Are they shaped like a peanut?”
    “No. Because we eat them like a snack. Like a peanut.”
    If Eli were the one telling Katie this, she’d think it might be a big tease just to get a reaction out of her. But this man seemed serious.
    “You eat these?” Katie watched as more of the “flying peanuts” fluttered around them with graceful ease. It seemed impossible thattermites could be so elegant, let alone be the ideal African “to go” snack.
    “Yes. Like this.” The man waited until just the right moment, quickly snatched one of the termites, and held it in his fist.
    Katie put her hand over her mouth. Her stomach did a flip-flop as she thought she was about to watch this man chomp into the termite.
    “First, you pull off the wings.”
    “Pull off the wings?”
    “Yes. You don’t eat the wings.”
    “To be honest, I don’t think I could eat the termite, actually. Wings or no wings. Sorry.”
    “Maybe you like them better roasted. We make them