James was a 12 year old orphan who lived in an underdeveloped african country.
His parents died when he was just 2 years old through a road accident and instead of taking care of the young boy his relatives from both sides abandoned him in an orphanage.
He had been living in the orphanage for ten years and was one of the oldest children there.
He knew all the shortcuts in the orphanage so it was easy to sneak out with his friends and come back without anyone noticing.
James was a very jovial and happy boy who was loved by everyone including the caretakers of the orphanage.
He was friends with all the children in the orphanage but Ben and Jane were his best friends and they were the oldest and third oldest kids in the orphanage,James was the second oldest Ben was 13 years old and Jane was 10 years old,the next oldest in terms of age in the orphanage was only 6 years old.
They formed a trio and ruled over the other children peacefully,they made sure every child ate and had baths everyday and they also settled quarrels amongst the other kids.
Ben has been living in the orphanage for years too,he arrived a day before James came and Jane came a year later.
They were very close which meant that they shared everything among themselves including secrets but James kept a very important secret to himself.
His secret was one which seemed impossible for a kid living in an orphanage HE WANTED TO GO TO SCHOOL and to make it worse he lived in an underdeveloped country which did not care about the welfare of their people talk more of orphans.
Whenever James thought about the matter mainly at night he ended up soaking his pillow with tears.
"God please change my story one day, please send good people that would adopt me and send me to a good school so i would be able to change my life for good" he prayed silently with tear filled eyes every night.
One night as he was praying a crazy idea came to his head,he would sneak in to the only primary school(he wanted to start afresh though his mates were in secondary schools)the next day.The idea was crazy but he was determined to try his luck.
The next day after the morning devotions and breakfast he sneaked out of the orphanage home without letting even his best friends know.As soon he was outside he ran with all strength to school.
When he arrived he heaved a sigh of relief but something hit him,he was not wearing the school uniform and he came empty handed.He started panicking but he still tried to enter the school anyways but the school's security guard chased him away and threatened to flog him if he saw him again but James wasn't budging he begged the man to let him in with tears in his eyes.
"Sir please let me enter the school so i can study like my mates" he knelt down and begged
"Listen to me boy,i really admire your determination to go to school but i simply cannot do anything about it,if the school principal finds out that i let a stranger into the school he would sack me and besides you are old enough to be in a secondary school,where are your parents?why did they allow you to come like this?"the security man was genuinely concerned for the boy because he looked very pitiable.
At the mention of his parents James broke down completely,he almost cried his eye balls out meanwhile a large crowd consisting of staff and students had gathered to know what the commotion was about.The school principal was also standing there observing.
"I am all alone in this world i don't have anybody to take care of me,all my life has been spent in the orphanage because my relatives dumped me there.They believe that i would not amount to anything in life but i know i am destined for greatness in this life that is why i am asking for an opportunity to go to school" he begged with hot tears rolling down his eyes.
People who gathered were touched, some children were already crying because of James narration.The school principal knew that he had to step in to calm down the situation.
"Alright that's enough everyone get to class" he told the students
"Young man come with me" he told James
When they got to the principals office he offered James a seat and gave him snacks and drinks to calm him down.When James was done eating the principal started asking him questions
"What is your name boy and how old are you?the principal started
"My name is James and i am 12 years old"he answered fearfully
The principal noticed this and asked him to calm down and feel at home
"Where are your parents or guardian"
"My parents died when i was only two years old and since then i have been living in the orphanage"
"How about your relatives?
"I don't know any of them sir but from what the caretakers told me they were the ones that abandoned me in the orphanage so that they could take over my parents properties"
The principal Mr Smith was impressed with the way James answered his questions with simple english.He immediately took a liking for the boy.
"I thought you said that you don't go to school then who taught you how to speak english with such accuracy"
"I taught myself sir by listening to people who spoke it and also by watching movies on the television in the orphanage"
Mr smith was impressed with the boy's intelligence and he made a silent vow to adopt and train the young man and seeing that he was a bachelor who had lived alone all his life an adopted son did not seem like a bad idea.
"You are going to take me to the orphanage after school is that clear?
"Yes sir" James answered fearfully
After the school day was done they got into Mr Smith's car and James directed him to the orphanage.
When they got there James lead him to the general parlour where everybody stayed for relaxation.
Immediately James walked in the children including his best friends rushed and hugged him tightly because they thought that he ran away.
The head caretaker started scolding James who bent his head in sadness.
"How could you do this James,why did you sneak out without letting anybody know and where did you go to? Who is this man?" She asked with anger
"Good evening madam my name is Mr Smith and i am the principal of the primary school James wanted to sneak into earlier today,please i want to speak to you privately" Mr Smith stepped in to defend James.
The head caretaker took him to her office where they discussed unknown things.
Meanwhile the children started bombarding James with questions but the older kids shunned them and ordered them to their rooms.
"What's going on James?where have you been?" Jane asked him
"What were you doing in a school?" Ben also asked
James was not in the mood to answer any of their questions so he ignored them.
When the principal and the head caretaker were done discussing several hours later,the principal came out of the office smiling
"I will see you tomorrow James get your things ready" Mr Smith shouted as he walked away
James was surprised what did he mean? What did they discuss? The head caretaker soon came out of her office smiling too
"James God has finally answered your prayers,Mr Smith said that he is going to adopt you and has also promised to send you to school and train you till you graduate from college.The adoption papers has already been finalized you would leave tomorrow morning so go pack your bags my dear your new life starts tomorrow" the head caretaker announced joyfully.
Everybody was stunned,the children who were listening from their rooms ran out crying because James was the most loved child there,they hugged him tightly.
His best friends were happy for him even though they were going to miss him meanwhile James was still taking it all in,he was still in shock but he still managed to compose himself and proceeded to pack his things with the help of his friends.
That night the trio slept on one bed and cuddled themselves one final time.
The next morning Mr Smith arrived as early as 7 o'clock to pick James and take him to his new home.
Tears, laughter and sadness was the atmosphere that morning in the orphanage,the children were crying,the caretakers were happy and his best friends were happy and sad at the same time.When he said goodbye to everyone in the orphanage he drew his best friends close and hugged them tightly and finally the tears they were trying so hard to stop poured down from their eyes.
"I promise that one day we would meet again,i will never forget this place thank you all for the love and care you showed me since day one" he said tearfully
The caretakers could not stop their tears too because James was such a lovely child.
Mr Smith and James proceeded to his car and James put his stuff in the boot of the car and got into the front, Mr Smith started the car and admist the waves of goodbye he drove off with James.
One the way to his house Me Smith assured James that he was going to send him to school and take good care of him.
"Thank you so much for this opportunity sir,i promise not to disappoint you in this life" James said thankfully
"I know you won't my boy,i saw fire and determination in your eyes that is why i decided to adopt you and train you so that the fire won't quench" Mr Smith said
Many years later James was the governor of his state and the first thing he did when he stepped into power was to build schools for the children in the orphanages in his state.
He also located his best friends(who were also adopted by rich people who trained them in school shortly after he left) and in fact he located everybody including the caretakers.