Coming Attractions (26 page)

“We can’t leave our purses in the bushes. I don’t know what I was thinking, bringing my purse or this gift. We have to go
back to the dorm. Fast!”

“If we do, we’ll be late,” Katie said.

“Not if we hurry. Come on!”

The two friends took off for Crown Hall at an admirably fast clip, considering they were wearing not-so-comfortable shoes.
They had just turned past the cafeteria when they saw another graduate in a cap and gown coming their way, riding on a white
security golf cart.

“Eli!” Katie waved her arm in the air. “Stop! We need a ride!”

He pulled up, looking rather heroic in his flowing gown with the dark blue tassel on his cap swinging back and forth. His
curly brown hair was doing a crazy jig under the tilted cap. His smile was just too cute.

“I always knew one of these days you would come to appreciate my classy mode of transportation around campus.”

“Drop it, Lorenzo. This is no time to gloat over, at long last, managing to talk two cute girls into going for a ride with
you in your convertible. Now, put this baby in gear and drive us to Crown Hall as fast as you can!”

It immediately became evident to all three of them that the cart wasn’t used to carrying so many passengers, especially while
going uphill. They puttered along at a maddening sputter.

“Seriously, Eli, is this the fastest your clown-mobile can go?”

“Seriously, Katie, is that the best gripe you can come up with?”

“Oh, no, I have plenty more gripes. Which do you want to hear first? How about the gripe that these brand news shoes already
rubbed a blister on my heel? Or do you want to hear the gripe about my left arm? It’s so sore I can hardly lift it.”

“Why is your arm sore?” Nicole asked.

“I got some shots yesterday.”

“What for?”

“Yellow fever. Typhoid. Oh, and tetanus because it had been over ten years since my last tetanus shot.”

“Why in the world would you get all those immunizations?” Nicole asked. “And why would you have them the day before graduation?”

Katie shrugged. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

Eli turned to Katie with a wide grin. He looked like the happiest kid on the planet.

She knew that he knew what that combination of immunizations meant. She wished she had kept her mouth shut. It was too late
now. Eli knew.

Come on, Miss Prudence! Where are you when I need you? Try to keep up with me, will you?

They were in front of Crown Hall then, and Nicole and Katie jumped off the cart to hurry to Nicole’s room.

“Katie, I can’t believe you got all those shots at once! No wonder your arm is sore. Why in the world did you do that?”

“I wanted to be prepared. The guy at the drugstore said they would be good for the next five years. Except for the tetanus.
That’s good for ten years.”

“You got those shots at a drugstore? Not at a doctor’s?”

“The sign said they specialized in travel immunizations. The guy who gave me the shots said it cost a lot less than what they
charge at a clinic or a doctor’s office. He said he gave shots all the time. Especially for older people who go on cruises
to sketchy places around the world.”

“Why would anyone go on a cruise to a sketchy place?” Nicole dismissed her own question and said, “Katie, I can’t believe
you put all those diseases in your body at one time. Is your immune system up for that?”

They had slipped into their graduation gowns and were sharing Nicole’s full-length mirror, trying to balance their caps just
right on their heads.

“I guess I’ll find out.”

“So are you going on a cruise?”

“No, I just thought I should catch up on all my immunizations in case I ever wanted to go on a last-minute missions trip to
someplace like Malaysia or India.”

Nicole turned to her and said, “Or Africa?”

“Sure, Africa is a possibility. They have mosquitoes there, you know.”

“And yellow fever.” Nicole leaned toward her until Katie had to give in and look at her. Nicole’s flawless skin made it easy
to read every expression. This time it was her since-your-mother-never-told-you-this-I-get-to-be-the-one-to-nail-you-right-now
look.

“Don’t torture him, Katie. Eli’s feelings for you are so obvious. You have to know that he’s smitten with you big time. Please.”
Her voice grew softer. “I know a thing or two about feelings of love that aren’t returned. So, please, don’t give him hope
like that unless you mean it.”

Katie felt the weight of Nicole’s velvet hammer. If they had had any more time, Katie would have let a tear break free from
the fortress she had built around her heart.

But they had no time. Nicole knew it as well.

“Promise me,” Nicole said firmly. “Promise me you won’t mess with Eli’s feelings.”

Katie nodded. “I promise.”

“Good. Now lean over.” Nicole reached for Katie’s cap. “You need to tip it down more in the front. Like that. No, here, let
me do it. Hand me some of those bobby pins. There. You ready? Let’s go.”

They hurried down the hall and through the lobby, each with her robe flapping and a hand on top of her cap. Katie couldn’t
help but think how fitting it was that she was running so she wouldn’t be late for graduation. That summarized her entire
senior year.

Eli was waiting in the cart. “We’ll pick up some speed going downhill. Hold onto your hats.”

Katie didn’t place a hand on her cap the way Nicole did. The cart picked up speed, but certainly nothing impressive. The bobby
pins did their job, or Katie would have had to run back uphill to retrieve her cap as the golf cart dashed down to the gym.

Eli parked in one of the campus security zones around the back of the gym. The three of them ran to their spots in line where
the rest of their classmates were already in alphabetical order.

“Cutting it a little close there,” one of the organizers said as Katie slid into the back of the three other
W
s, followed by one
Y
and two
Z
s. The students were already walking into the gym. Nicole was in place with the rest of the
S
s, but Katie couldn’t see if Eli had made it in with the
L
s.

She felt a surge of anticipation. Or maybe it was just the adrenaline from the last fifteen minutes. Whatever it was, Katie
felt as if she were sweltering under the long robe. The warm air inside the gym and all her bundled up feelings made her feel
faint. She never had been a swooner, but at the moment she wished she had a fan or a drink of water.

The chairs for the graduates lined the center of the gym floor, while the photo-snapping guests were on the perimeter as well
as filling the bleachers. It was a full house. Katie looked around and knew it would be impossible to spot any of her friends.
She was just grateful to be in place, standing in front of her assigned chair when the dean of Rancho Corona opened the ceremony
with a welcome and a prayer.

Then everyone was seated. The best part was, since Katie’s last name started with
W
, she could sit for a long time before she had to rise again. The choir sang beautifully. A short man in a long robe gave
a speech and ended by telling the graduates they could accomplish anything they put their hearts and minds to, by the grace
of God. One of last year’s graduates played the piano while a graduate from this year sang a solo. The applause was invigorating.

Katie kept looking around. She couldn’t see where Eli was sitting, but she had settled with herself during the ride down the
hill that she was going to keep her distance from him physically and emotionally. Everything Nicole said was right. It wasn’t
fair for Katie to say or do anything that would boost his hopes.

Her scanning had moved on into the bleachers. She wanted to find Christy and Todd or maybe Uncle Bob. But so far she hadn’t
spotted them in the masses.

The president of the university took his place at the podium to give his final thoughts before the graduates stood row-by-row
and walked onstage to receive their diplomas. Katie gave up looking for her friends and turned her attention to the stage.

The first row of graduates stood and vacated their chairs. Katie watched them walk toward the stage and felt a sense of satisfaction
rising inside her. In a few moments she would be walking up there too, to receive her diploma. She had done it!

Now that some of the grads had stood, Katie could see the attentive family and friends seated on the ground level in the first
few rows. She knew those people had to have come at least two hours before the ceremony because no seats were reserved for
guests. The people in those rows were the parents with either the most patience or the most pride in their sons or daughters.
Maybe the families felt a combination of both.

Suddenly Katie stopped smiling. She blinked and leaned forward as far as she could to see more clearly. There was no mistake.

Seated in the first seats in the front row were the last two people she expected to see. Her mother and father.

K
atie was a mess. She had held in her feelings… well, for most of her life. Long ago she had told herself,
If you don’t care, then you can’t be hurt.
That was perhaps the strongest lesson her mother had taught her without ever saying a word.

Yet here was Vivian Weldon, breaking all her own rules, sitting in the front row with Katie’s dad, demonstrating their unspoken
pride and care for their only daughter.

Katie let the tears come. She didn’t care who saw her. Let them think she was happy to be graduating.

She watched as her classmates walked across the stage. She applauded and kept wiping her tears on her robe’s sleeve. When
it came to the
L
s, Katie watched Eli take strong, confident steps to accept his diploma. She smiled, cried, applauded, and laughed a little
when she heard Eli’s Ghanaian friend, Joseph, from somewhere in the bleachers let out a wild whoop.

All the while, Katie thought of how her parents were waiting for her to stride across the stage. This, their presence, might
be the single best gift her parents had ever given her.

Katie clapped when the name “Nicole Sanders” was called. She wasn’t the only one. Nicole seemed to receive more applause than
any student so far. In the mix, Katie thought she heard one of Rick’s shrill whistles. It made her smile softly because she
could whistle better than Rick and had on several occasions tried to teach him how to improve his feeble skills.

The row in front of Katie stood. The guy who had been seated directly in front of her glanced at her right before marching
off. She knew him from the coed softball games she had been involved with her first year at Rancho. He broke into a grin when
he looked at her. “That’s a good one, Weldon.”

She had no idea what he meant. Nor did she have time to try to spout out some joke about their softball days.

When her row was to stand. Katie composed herself. She checked that her cap was in place just as Nicole had arranged it for
her. Her gown was zipped up all the way. Her tears had stopped. She still could feel the dampness of the sleeve that had doubled
as a tissue, but she didn’t care. All she had to do was walk down the aisle, go up the steps without tripping, shake with
her right hand, receive the diploma with her left hand, and make it down the steps on the other side of the stage.

This was her moment. Every step signified success. She denied herself the pleasure of looking over at her parents when she
reached the end of the row. Her emotions were right on the edge, and she didn’t want to do anything that could cause her to
burst into tears.

Looking straight ahead, Katie made it up the steps in her new shoes. She felt like a pageant princess, floating across the
stage to the podium. She waited one, two, three seconds. Then, right on cue, her name was called.

Katie held out her right hand, shook with the president of Rancho Corona University, received her diploma in her left, and
suddenly was aware of the applause for two reasons. The first was because her brain clicked into the sound of clapping, with
some whistles and a Ghanaian whoop thrown in. The second reason was because of the stunned and almost disapproving expressions
on the faces of the president and the professor who handed her the diploma.

At the beginning of the ceremony, a request was made that all applause be held until the end, but after the first two or three
students, someone sneaked in a cheer, and after that, everyone applauded for his or her favorite graduate. It was a tradition.

Katie couldn’t tell because her heart was pounding in her ears, but perhaps she was receiving more applause than other students,
and therefore her friends and family were overzealous in their violation of the no-clapping request.

She wasn’t sure why she was met with not-so-masked expressions of disapproval, but at that moment, it didn’t matter. She had
her diploma in hand! Raising it high and giving a wave, she turned to the audience and let out a modest but meaningful, “Woo-hoo!”

Several people laughed, and a few pointed. That was puzzling because a couple of the students had done their own controlled
version of a happy dance as they exited the stage, so Katie knew she wasn’t overdoing her celebratory expression. Let the
faculty look at her with disdain. Let the audience laugh and point. She didn’t care. She was a college graduate!

Returning down the aisle, Katie felt as if all other grads’ eyes were on her. She beamed and waved her diploma at Nicole when
she made eye contact with her.

Nicole looked stunned. She pointed to her cheek and then anxiously pointed at Katie.

Katie touched her cheek. She didn’t have anything stuck to her face.
What was Nicole trying to say?

By the time Katie was back at her seat, the remaining students had gone through the line, and the dean had returned to the
podium. He asked all the graduates to rise. In the solemn moment, all the graduates did as they had been instructed the day
before in practice. They reached for the tassels on their caps, moved them to the other side, and recited in unison Psalm
23, which had been selected for their class at the beginning of the year during senior chapel. Katie stood with her chin up
and recited boldly with the rest of her class.