Read Online Gilbert Morris by The Angel of Bastogne - Free Book Online Page B

have three children, two girls and one son.”
    â€œHe looks like me, worst luck,” Lonnie laughed. “But on the other hand the girls look like their ma, so better that way than the other way around.”
    â€œOur son’s been a missionary in Iran for the past eight years,” Dove added.
    Both Ben and Charlene stared at the couple. Finally Ben cleared his throat. “That’s pretty hard, isn’t it? I mean, they don’t welcome missionaries over there.”
    â€œNo. You have to go as something else. David’s a scientist. Got him a Ph.D. in botany. He’s over there tellin’ ’em how to grow better crops. So he has to do his witnessing like that. Can’t have churches or anything.”
    â€œThat’s a very dangerous world he’s in, especially for Christians,” Charlene said. “I know you’re very proud of him.”
    â€œI’m as proud as a cat with two tails,” Lonnie Shoulders nodded vehemently. “He’s a good boy, David. He always was.

All I ever done was rodeo, and here is this boy of mine goin’ over preachin’ the Lord Jesus to people that need to hear it.”
    Dove then left the table and soon returned with an apple pie, and, despite their protests, both Ben and Charlene ate small pieces.
    Ben took notes copiously about the family, took snapshots of them with his Nikon, and got them to sign releases for using them.
    â€œI’ve often wondered why you didn’t write about your pa. He sends us your pieces, you know,” Lonnie said. “I keep ’em all.”
    Ben felt inordinately pleased at this. It made him feel a little bit better.
    â€œYou know,” Lonnie said, “if it wasn’t for your dad, none of this would be here. I’d have been buried over there somewhere around Bastogne. I’d never have married Dove, we’d never have had our children.” He shook his head thoughtfully. “And there wouldn’t have been no David to go to Iran and tell them people that Jesus died for them.” A thought crossed his dark eyes, black as obsidian, and he said softly, “You know, Ben, it’s kind of like your dad went over there himself!”
    * * *
    The lights of Billings glittered below as the plane gained altitude. Ben had said very little after they had left the Shoulders property. He had returned the car while Charlene checked the plane, and now he sat thinking over what had happened.
    â€œWhat are you thinking about, Ben?”
    â€œI was thinking about the Shoulders family. They’re fine people. You know?”
    He broke off suddenly and shook his head.
    â€œWhat is it, Ben?”
    â€œSomething I don’t like to admit.”
    Charlene lifted the plane higher with the touch of her hands and said quietly, “Sometimes confession’s good.”
    â€œI know, but it’s hard, too.” He was silent for a time and then said, “The thing is, Charlene, I’ve always been ashamed of my dad. He never seemed to do anything. He came home from the war and tried several businesses, and finally we wound up with a little newsstand. He got sick, and I had to take care of it most of the time. I guess I’ve always resented that.”
    â€œIt must have been hard on a young boy.”
    â€œI didn’t make many excuses for my dad. I always thought he could have done better.”
    Charlene Delaughter suddenly reached out and put her hand on Ben’s arm. She squeezed it and said, “I don’t know your father, but if people like the Shoulderses think so much of him, I’d venture to guess that your dad did the best he could.”
    The words cut Ben Raines like a razor, for he had had exactly the same thought. He could not think of a single word to say in his own defense, so he sat there silently as the plane moved rapidly through the darkness.
    Charlene Delaughter held the Cessna on course, but her mind was on the man who sat