Free Coming Attractions by Robin Jones Gunn

trip a lot. Things were so simple then. I know I fretted
     and complained while we were traveling, but now I think it was one of the best things Todd and I did together before we got
     married. I loved being with him, and with you, and sharing so many amazing experiences together.”
    Katie leaned forward eagerly. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. I want to have an experience like that with Rick before we
     get married. Or, well, if we get married. Before we get engaged at least. I want to experience new things with him. He and
     I have been stuck in a rut our entire dating relationship.”
    Katie crossed her arms and leaned back, contented and convinced. “It’s settled. Rick and I need to go to Africa.”
    “And exactly how do you think Rick will take to that idea?”
    Katie didn’t answer immediately. “I can convince him. He’ll see once I explain why we need to have this sort of experience.
     We’ll go after I graduate, after the café opens. Just for a week or two. We’ll go with Eli when he goes back. It will be sort
     of like when we were in Europe and Antonio traveled with us in Italy and took us to his parents’ home. If we go with Eli,
     he will show us around. This will be the most important and defining thing Rick and I have ever done together. I wonder when
     we need to take our typhoid shots. Soon, I would imagine. I think Eli said we have to get yellow fever shots as well.”
    “Whoa, Katie! Before you get immunizations against tropical diseases, don’t you think you should talk to Rick about it?”
    “Like I said, I’ll convince him. What better time to go than this summer?”
    Christy seemed to have run out of arguments. Katie took advantage of her silence to follow a wonderfully long, wavy line in
     her mind that contained bountiful information on Africa, Kenya, and the clean water project Eli’s dad was involved in. After
     working on the clean water fund-raiser so closely with Eli, Katie knew a whole lot more about Africa than she had realized.
     She told Christy about the way the funds were making it possible for heavy drilling equipment to be taken into remote villages
     where people were dying from lack of clean water. New wells were being dug. Entire villages were becoming healthy after years
     of losing people to dysentery and disease.
    “Eli said that the verse about offering a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name is happening, literally, because of these wells,
     and children who were close to death now are becoming healthy. Schools are starting up, and crops are growing in areas that
     had become arid. It’s a whole other world over there, Christy. So much needs to be done to help. Can you imagine how great
     it would be if Rick and I could go after I graduate and spend a month there just to help out?”
    “So now it’s up from a week to a month?”
    “Or the whole summer. I think it would be incredible. The best thing we ever did. We can always settle down in suburbia, and
     he can always open another café. But this! A chance to go to Africa — this would be golden.”
    Christy didn’t reply.
    Katie’s imagination swirled with possibilities. She felt happier than she had in a long time. “We can do this. It won’t be
     that hard to pull it together. I should text Eli to find out what day he’s leaving. The three of us could take the same flight.”
    “Katie, are you sure you want to do that without first giving Rick a chance to weigh in with his opinion?”
    “I’m not telling Eli we’re actually going; I’m just gathering information.” Her thumbs had completed the text and were about
     to hit Send.
    With a glance over at Christy, she said, “What’s with the scowl? Do you think I’m moving too fast?”
    “I think you hopped on a pretty wavy line, and it’s taking you way off in a crazy new direction.”
    “Yeah, but why not?” Katie put down her phone. “I want to do this, Chris. Is there something wrong with me that I’d rather
     go to an African