2. Jean is a poor girl living inTondo, Manila. From a
young age, she has experienced hard life because
her family does not have much money. Her father
left the family when she was just a baby. Her
mother – who used to work nonstop to feed,
clothe, and send her and her twin brother to
school – is now very sick. Being the elder twin,
jean has taken it upon herself to take care of her
mother and twin brother.
At first, Jean helps her neighbor sell goods
on the street, fetch, water their stores for them
while studying and taking care of her family. After
some, she finds it hard to do everything at the
same time, so she stops going to school to focus
on working. Every day, all she does is work for
money or food.
3. One day, Jean feels really tired from selling goods on the street all day.
While she was walking through the street, she cannot stop thinking
about wanting to earn easy money to buy food and medicine.All of
sudden, she smells freshly baked bread from a nearby bakery. She
imagine how the loaf of bread could save her family from starving.
Quickly, she steals a loaf, but someone sees her.
Jean tries to run but she is quickly caught by the owner of the
bakery. He does not let her go until she apologizes to him. After a
couple of hours, she finally apologizes to the owner of the bakery.
4. Jean tries to go back to doing honest work, but her
neighbors do not want anything to do with her.They know
what she has done. She keeps looking for work until she gets
sick. She knocks the door of the house, and she is welcomed
by a jolly old man and his servant, Bertha.They feed jean and
give her nice bed to rest.When she wakes up, she remembers
her family and how starving they must be, so she thinks of
stealing from the old man. Deep into the night, when all are
asleep, Jean steals the old’s man wallet.The old man’s servant
catches her in her act. She threatens to take jean to an
orphanage because of what she has done.The old man hears
this and says. “Oh, Bertha, you do not have to do that. I am
willing to let this girl go.”
5. “But, sir, the girl tried to steal something from you.We need to do something
about her,” Bertha explains to the old man.
“she is just a little girl. I will take care of everything. She will never steal again.
I promise you,” the old man says.
Bertha agrees to let jean go. Jean feel ashamed and puzzled. As she looks into
her eyes of the old man, she sees the man’s sincerity.
jean sincerely and honestly apologizes for what she has done.To prove her
sincerity, she promises the old man that she will change and became a better
person.The old man is happy to hear say those words.To help Jean, he send Jean’s
mother to the hospital and sends her and her twin brother to school. All she has to
do from now on is to live as honestly as she can until the end of her days.
