The Unlikely Allies by Gilbert Morris Read Free Book Online Page A

whole world and the stars and the sun and the moon. And He made us, you and me.”
    “He made everyone, you say?”
    “Yes, of course.”
    “He’s not a very good maker, then. I’ve seen some pretty pitiful specimens.” Orva grinned and downed a swallow of her whiskey. “Go on. Tell me some more about this maker of yours.”
    Mallory struggled to get her message across, and finally she spoke about Jesus. “We were all so bad that there was no hope for any of us,” Mallory said. The wind had died down, and an immense silence rested on the barren landscape. It was as if everything in the world had died and all was totally silent. Mallory’s voice soundedthin and weak as she said, “God was holy and righteous. And He sent his Son to save us.”
    “To save us from what?”
    “From hell.”
    “Hell? What’s that?”
    “It’s a place where people go forever who are lost and die in their sins.”
    “And what is this hell like?”
    “It’s a place of burning fire.”
    Orva laughed and hugged the jug to her chest. Her eyes gleamed, and her teeth glowed white against her dark skin. “That’s where I want to go, then. I’ve never been warm in my whole life. Yes, I want to go to hell.”
    Mallory was speechless. She struggled to find a way to explain what she meant, but no words would come. Finally she said, “For you and your people, I guess hell would be a place of eternal ice, with no fire and no warmth.”
    Orva blinked. “I wouldn’t want to go to a place like that. I’ve had enough of that kind of misery.”
    Mallory did not know how to say what was on her heart. “Jesus is the Son of God, and He came to give us peace. To make everything right.”
    “He’s got a big job on His hands,” Orva said sardonically. “How does He propose to fix the mess we’re in?”
    “He came to earth and He died for us.”
    Orva grew still and fixed her dark eyes on Mallory. “He did?”
    “Yes,” Mallory said, encouraged at the woman’s interest. She went on to speak of how Jesus was born without an earthly father, and this also interested her.
    “He had no father? Just a mother? That can’t be.”
    “It was the only time it’s ever happened. God was His father, and Mary was His mother. So He was God and man.”
    “It makes a nice story,” Orva said with a shrug. “This is what you’re going to tell my people?”
    “Yes, all about Jesus.”
    Orva slowly uncapped the jug, took a swallow, and expelled her breath with a gust. “Well, it’ll make a good story to tell when there’s nothing else to do.”
    ****
    For four long days Mallory Winslow struggled with the hardest journey of her life. She had thought it was hard to live in Africa under the blazing sun, fighting the heat and mosquitoes and other bugs and dangers of wild animals. But every day now she longed for an hour under that hot African sun. She had not bathed or changed her clothes, and the travel seemed endless. The landscape changed very little. Sometimes new snow would fall. Once she woke up to find the tent buried two feet deep, and it had taken all of the fortitude she could muster to come out and face the world. True, it was beautiful in its pristine stillness, but it was white and unbroken and treacherous.
    It was almost noon by her watch on the fourth day of travel when Orva stopped short. “There.”
    Mallory was stumbling forward, concentrating on not falling down, when she looked toward the horizon. Her heart gave a queer lurch at the sight of movement.
    “My people.”
    “How can you tell?”
    “I have eyes, don’t I? Come.”
    Mallory struggled forward, excited by the opportunity of meeting Orva’s family. As they approached, she saw that a large herd of reindeer was digging at the snow to get at the vegetation underneath. She had never understood how they could survive in this inhospitable land, but obviously they had done so for hundreds of years.
    When they drew closer, she could make out human figures, and she also saw a