Mrs Miller(Slum Product)

As the flight progressed, Mrs Miller took a journey down memory lane to the dark days before she ever saw the light.

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Somewhere in the slums of Rivers City, children ran carelessly without minding oncoming vehicles, the air stank with the smell of weed and cigarettes as you could see different gangs hanging around in small groups by the road side trying to transact various illegal businesses. There was so much dirt and noise and one could easily tell that this was a habitat for criminals

"Pon! pon! Hey you little rascals get out of the way" the driver of a truck yelled as the children continued to run wild on and off the road. Young Janet stopped in her tracks and turned around, she stuck her tongue out as she made a mock face to the driver who had just yelled at her and her friends. The middle aged man was livid "Hey! come here you little demon" but off she ran again with group as they laughed out loud.

"Hey Janey, look what we have here" a member of the group of six children said pointing at a man in a distance. He had nice outfits on and carelessly held on to his wallet as he discussed with another man. Janet and the other children turned their attention towards the direction of the boy's pointed hand.

"Hmmmm... that man looks really rich and he's surely not from around here. If he was, he would know that that's a wrong way to hold a wallet around here. Well not my problem since that's a bonus for us because it looks like we are going to have a wonderful lunch and dinner today." She smiled as the other children cheered. She quietly sneaked around the little corners and made her way towards where the two men were standing while her friends watched in apprehension. Janet was the oldest among them so she had always been the one to do the major pickpocket jobs. They only did the easier tasks if they had the opportunity and if she said it was okay to do it. Soon Janet got close enough and snatched the wallet and all the other kids took to their heels in different angles knowing fully well where the meeting place was.

"Hey! thief! Stop her!" the man yelled as soon as he noticed what had happened and immediately different men in black suits came out of nowhere and chased Janet. The other kids stopped running when they noticed what was going on and they prayed silently for Janet to escape from the giant men chasing her. Little Pam-pam who was the youngest of the group even prayed out with her palms together "Dear Papa in heaven, please help Janey run. She is all we have, if they get her, we won't have anyone to give us food. Please help her run really fast." Everyone in the crowd that had gathered shortly after the man had shouted "thief" waited in silence to see what would become of Janet but few moments later the men returned alone with their heads bowed. It was obvious they couldn't keep up with the young girl; the man was furious and he yelled at his men for being unable to catch up with a little girl. The children were so elated as they quietly sneaked away to meet Janet in their secret hideout. Soon they were together with Janet and they cheered her loudly as they all shared a group hug.

"Janey... Janey..."Pam-pam called as she tugged at Janet's shorts and stretched her hands to be lifted. Janet picked her up and set her on her little hip. "Yes Pam-pam..."

"Janey, when those bad men were chasing after you, I prayed to my papa in heaven to make you run really fast so they don't get you Janey." Janet smiled and replied the four year old girl "Thanks Pam-pam. And what do you tell Papa in heaven for helping me run?" the little girl grinned and said as she looked up to the sky "Thank you Papa."

Janet set her down and brought the wallet to check it's contents while the other children gathered around her. Their jaws dropped open when they saw the contents of the wallet; it had fifty thousand naira notes, and some one hundred dollar bills in it. There was a brief silence as every child seemed to be lost in thought on the kind of fortune that had just came to them.

"This is what we would do.... Janet began ...we will go shopping for food items and get some clothes from the thrift store then Tobi and Orji, you'll go to the government free school. I'm sure you will be able to cope since you were already in school before both your parents died. Pam-pam, Chi-Chi, Amanda and me will stay back and continue the hustle. Okay?" The other children nodded as they totally trusted Janet's decisions. She had been their big sister since their little orphanage had been forced to close down when their caregiver died. The other children had found their way to their extended families but these ones had no way to trace their homes because they all except Tobi and Orji had no idea who their biological parents were. Janet who was twelve years old at the time had wanted to leave on her own when she found the other children crying that they had nowhere to go, Pam-pam was only two at the time. She had decided to take them with her and Tobi and Orji had followed because they rather be on the streets that go back to their respective relatives who maltreated them. By the time Janet was fourteen years old, she had been able to cater for the kids under her care and even settle little fights between them. They all preferred to call her Janey instead of Janet which was the name written on the note that was attached to her dress when her mother had abandoned her by the roadside.

Since she just managed to escape the men who chased her, she decided to send Tobi and Amanda who were both twelve now to go shopping for the group while she remained in their hideout for a while. She knew one day all these would be over and she wouldn't have to steal or beg for them to eat, she knew that she would be a great Mom to her children and they wouldn't have to go through what she went through as a child.