Bridge to a Distant Star - Carolyn Williford [97]
“But after chapel, he said what Reverend Coleman shared was—” Michal leaned into the center of the table and whispered, “pure crap. Honest, that’s a word-for-word quote.”
“I took a cut today. Sounds like I missed something good. What on earth did this Reverend Coleman say?” Amy asked, amusement coloring her words.
Ruth was indignant. “He’s a missionary. To Chile.”
“Uh, okay. So did he show slides of a sunrise and sunset?”
Amy’s sarcasm was lost on Ruth, who responded with horror at Amy’s audacity to ridicule a chapel speaker, let alone a missionary. “No, he didn’t.”
“He said we should all be open to becoming missionaries,” Michal pointed out. “That we should date only those who feel called to be missionaries too.”
“You know, I gotta tell you. I’m confused. ’Cause he made it sound like all of us should go to the mission field.” Jessica put her hands on her hips and tilted her head, smirking as she looked at each of them. “So … if all of us go overseas to the mission field, then who’s left here? Who supports everyone?”
“Jess, you know that’s not what he meant. Not technically.”
“You’re called to go back to Ethiopia, aren’t you?” from Ruth.
“Definitely,” Michal answered.
“Well, it’s pretty clear to me you can’t go out with Allistair.” Ruth’s declaration set off a firestorm of discussion.
“What? That’s stupid,” Samantha railed.
“Just because Allistair didn’t agree with Reverend Coleman doesn’t mean he’s opposed to being a missionary.”
“Actually, he told me he believes we’re all full-time missionaries,” Michal interjected.
“What on earth does that mean?” Jessica looked confused again.
“A missionary can be anyone who tells others about Jesus. We’re all supposed to do that.” Ruth was currently taking a class on missions and sounded a bit condescending.
“But isn’t there a difference when it’s vocational missions?” Jenny asked. “As opposed to having other jobs—like us, since we’re … you know … students right now? We’re not full-time vocational missionaries.”
“Then Michal can still go out with Allistair.”
“No, she can’t.”
Michal broke into the argument, stating firmly, “I told you, I’m not going out with him anyway.”
Samantha’s face lit up, and she whispered, “Well, speaking of you-know-who. Announcement,” she trilled, in a singsong voice. “He’s headed our way this very moment, eager listeners.”
Before Michal had a chance to mentally prepare, Allistair was casually resting his hand on the back of her chair. “Do some studying this afternoon for your exam?” He glanced up at the girls gathered around her, nodding his head in greeting. “Hey.” The twinkle in his eyes hinted he was getting a kick out of their interest.
“Yeah, I did and—”
“Great. I’ll see you tomorrow night at seven. Never dated an MK before. Something tells me I’ve got a lot to learn.” And with that, he turned and was swallowed into the crush of students milling around.
“Well, that’s the way to tell him the date’s off,” Samantha offered, dissolving into giggles that pulled in everyone else, enjoying the joke at Michal’s expense.
Chagrined, Michal attempted to defend herself. “He didn’t give me a chance, did he?”
“Seems to me you didn’t exactly try to find one either.”
Michal held up her hands in mock surrender. “Okay, okay. So I didn’t do the right thing. I should’ve said no first thing this morning.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Amy mused, shrugging her shoulders. “So Allistair didn’t like the chapel speaker. Why not find out what he disagreed with? Maybe you’ll find you and he don’t see things so differently, after all.”
“Whatever. I can’t back out now. Well, I need to get back to studying. Anyone else ready to go back to the dorm?”
“I’m going back for dessert,” from Jessica. “Chocolate cake.”
“There’s chocolate cake tonight? I didn’t see that …” Samantha mumbled as she followed Jessica, leading the entire group toward the dessert bar.
Though Michal was tempted to follow, she declined, and was hurrying down the path toward the dorm when she sensed someone falling into step beside her. Stephen.
Shyly, she grinned up at him. “Hey,