Binti Malu

Directly opposite the Jubilee estate in Abuja, lived a group of girls, All twenty in the number who rented a flat from where they do different kinds of business. These ladies are quite pretty but very lousy. They would go out with men of different sizes, shoes, and wealth and be dropped off in the morning.

This sort of lifestyle became a disturbance to most of the people who lived in that vicinity. Such that they wrote a petition to the landlord who also kept a close tie from then to see how these ladies were living.

Immediately, the landlord served the ladies a quick notice. Every one of them started to sort themselves out. Some went away with their sugar daddies while others were able to get another apartment for themselves in the town.

Out of all the ladies, oy Angela wasn't able to get a place to lay her head. She parked all her belongings and kept them under the staircase in one of the buildings that were directly opposite their former crib. And at night, when everyone has gone to bed, Angela would lay in her duvet.

This continued until some occupants of the building began to feel irritated by her presence. They referred to her as a common prostitute who could be a negative influence on their wards. Hence, they called an emergency meeting to discuss her eviction from their premises.

During the meeting, everyone raised different opinions as to why Angela should not be allowed to live under the staircase. Mrs. Akpobare was quite blunt in her address in the meeting:

We are not safe with such a person in this environment. She could conspire with abductors and take our children away from us and then demand a random.

As this deliberation was getting tougher, and all pointer was on the eviction of poor Angela, Mr. and Mrs. Japhet became indifferent. His wife stood up and spoke her mind about her husband.

My dear neighbors, please, permit me to say that everyone has spoken well.

Some of the neighbors adjusted their seats to hear what she had to say. She continued:

But far beyond what you all think, there should be a place of love in our judgment over this lady.

Now, it is sounding like a cricket chirping in the eras of some of these people.

Most of us have a terrible past. As such we should condemn her.

Angrily, some of them began to exit the meeting venue because they felt that Mrs. Japhet was speaking gibberish. At one point, there was no one left in the hall. Mr. and Mrs. Japhet were the last to leave.

They invited Angela into their home and gave her a room to herself despite the chatterbox about her personality. She is free to go out at night if she desires.

Angela felt so loved as she shed tears of joy that she could be accorded such an opportunity.

Within a short period of time, Angela joined them in the family morning devotion and on Sunday, she would go to church with them until she forgot about going out with men, old enough to be her father.

The Japhets helped her revive her spiritual and academic life. She wrote the entrance examination into the university and gained admission to study business management. All expenses through her university degrees were in the care of the Japhets.

Angela graduated in flying colours and got a job in a multinational firm where she held the high position of the regional head. Behind her desk in the office, she hung the portrait of Mr and Mrs Japhet with the inscription:

My Beloved Parents, I Whom I Am Well Pleased.