Ruth Oshondu was the only child born to her poor parents, Mr. and Mrs. Oshondu. The family was so poor that hardly provided food and clothong for Ruth. The family was wallowing in abject poverty and therefore could not afford to send Ruth to school early in her life. The family was later helped by Mr. Oshondu's childhood friend who volunteered to sponsor Ruth to school.
Ruth was registered in a nursery school very near her parent's house. Her father's friend,Mr. Collins sponsored her education right from nursery school trhough secondary school. Unfortunately, while in secondary school, Ruth joined a group of friends who came from rich families. She was keeping the company of these spoilt children from rich homes while forgetting her poor background. In a short while, Ruth realised that her parents could not afford to get her the kind of things her friend had. In her quest to live up to the standard of her rich friends, she decided to steal. Initially, she began to steal money from her classmates' bags. Before too long, she began to steal from her teachers' handbags and later became a 'professional' thief who can pilfer light out of daylight.
After a while, Ruth began wearing clothes made by the latest designers and, in most cases, this entered her head and she started disrespecting her teachers and elders. All this while, her parents were too busy working to earn a living by farming. However, they started noticing all the make-up their daughter was applying and how snobbishand disrespectful she had become. They knew that something was wrong. Her mother searched her room and found all sorts of expensive clothes. Ruth's parents decided to question her to find out where she had got all the things found in her room. She got angry with her mother and left the house. She wondered why she should be questioned that way and out of annoyance, she decided to leave her parents' home for her friends.
One fateful day, Ruth was in need of a beautiful and expensive dress to wear to a party which she had agreed to attend with her boyfriend. She had no money, and so, she decided to steal one expensive and colourful dress she had seen at a big shop. She got ready on this day and she went. On getting into the shop, she looked around for the dress. She stealthily walked to where the dress was hung, picked it up and put it her bag hurriedly. After doing this, she thought nobody had seen her and she made for the exit door.
At the door, a security man was always there to check people leaving the shop. He had seen Ruth picking up the dress but he was not sure whether she had paid for it. As Ruth was about to go out of the shop, the security man accosted her and demanded to search her bag. Ruth was found out and after she was beaten mercilessly and the stolen dress collected from her, she was taken to a juvenile home where teenage offenders are kept.
Ruth's friends were nowhere to be seen. Her parents had to go to the juvenile home to see her when the news of her arrest and detention reached them. As Ruth saw her parents, poorly clad in their wretchedness, she burst into tears. Her mother said to her "Ruth, if only you had cut your coat according to your cloth, you wouldn't be here now".
