In the story "Thank You, Ma'am," Mrs. Jones says, "I have done things, too." Imagine that she had a "Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones" who was...

This is an interesting question that will allow you to do some creative thinking about the kind of life Luella led before the present day in the story. When she comments to Roger that she herself had "done things too", she is letting him know that because of her personal experiences, she understands why a boy like him would feel that theft was necessary. But she declares that she will not tell him the things that she has done, which indicates that the secrets of her past are ones that she is not proud of. Later in the story she graciously gives Roger the money he had previously hoped to steal, and we are left with hope that one day Roger will stop trying to be a thief, grow up, and show similar grace some day to another youth in need of guidance like Luella did for him.

The task you have been given seems to be to imagine what those dark secrets are that Luella is currently not willing to explain to Roger, and also who stepped into her life to steer her toward a more righteous path. It might help if you think of the secret first before trying to think of a character that would likely have been there to pull Luella out of it.

For example, maybe she too had been a thief like Roger when she was a teenager. If so, maybe a shopkeeper or other person she tried to steal from would be the best kind of character to invent to go along with that crime. Or maybe she did something like bully somebody, and a wise person like a teacher, counselor, or other trustworthy adult took her aside and showed her why she needed to stop. Maybe she did other criminal things like arson or illegal drugs. Whatever it was, it had to have been something she now finds shameful since she implies that she would even be too ashamed to tell God about it. After you decide what problem behavior(s) she may have had when she was Roger's age, then you need to imagine a character who changed Luella's life by an act of kindness, mercy, or similar technique. Pretend that character is the role model who Luella now tries to be like.

You did not mention whether you have been asked to develop this into a story idea or a shorter type of answer, but in either case the two main things to decide first are the type of "things" she has done and the type of person who pulled her out of that type of lifestyle. Then you can fill in as much other information about the situation as needed depending on the length of answer you are being asked to compose.