The Python

He couldn't see past his mother
She was the type of woman who dominates her children
She was all in!
Her children also had this thing for her
They regard her as a sort of demi-god!
She was quick to talk about her sacrifices 
"I fried "puff-puff", I fried "chin-chin" to pay my children's school fees
When their father was doing "big boy" 
I drove a taxi, in this city, for my children
I invested everything I have in my children
I suffered, oh how I suffered!
The children got the drift
Mummy was not to be disobeyed
Mummy knows best
Mummy was the queen of the pride
The influence of their mother was everywhere
Even their father couldn't compete!
Sometimes their father would have to seek their
mother's permission for the children to listen to him
He was not a bad man!
But he had made his carnal mistakes!
He had impregnated a woman and had a child "Out there"
According to their mother, their Father's family
 was like "witchcraft coven" with all sorts of 
wickedness amongst siblings
Their Father's elder brother was a sorcerer who had
taken over all the inheritance of his younger ones
and gone to the extent that none of his siblings could
challenge him for fear of losing their lives!
This fact also encouraged their mother to put
the fear of their Father's people in the children's
heart!
But their mother's people were the good ones!
Their mother's relatives practically dominated the house
Her mother lives with them
Her younger brothers live with them
Their cousin's from their mother's side were free 
to come around while they view every relative
that comes around from their father's house with 
suspicion!
"This one came to drop charm
That one came to poison their food
Those ones came to spy
That one always come around when something good
was about to happen and after she leaves
the good thing will not happen again"
It was a siege mentality 
Built with words and coincidences and odd actions
"When you were children, your father's people
used to maltreat you!
They used to knock you on the head
They were wicked people!"
Their mother was doing the best she knew how
She meant no harm 
She just wanted her children on her side
She knew a day of reward would come
She wanted them to know where the good seeds 
were sown and where the good fruits must fall!
The children grew!
Their views distorted and their thinking adjusted!
The first child a boy brought home his babe!
His mother said no!
"This one will control you, that one will dominate you
this one is too lazy, that one is too withdrawn,
this one does not know how to give good gifts, 
that one is too stingy, this one will not satisfy you in bed"
As a practise, whenever he was sleeping with
his babes, his mother would peep through the 
keyhole to watch the performance!
She was that kind of mother!
Very thorough!
She just wanted the best for her son! 
Somehow her son got tired of her antics and 
insisted on marrying a girl!
His mother protested and complained
But he was determined to marry "This one"
His mother had said "NO" for ten years!
He was sure she would never ever say "Yes" to anyone
Eventually, when he refused to come home for several days
His mother gave in!
But with a caveat!
"You are not moving out of this house,
I will not allow your wife's people to put your head under
their laps! You must marry into this house!" 
The wife protested!
The mother insisted!
The son caved!'
They had to apply wisdom!
If they say No to his mother on everything, she would take it badly
They got a "win" on the marriage
They will take a "not yet" on the residence!
It was common sense that they would eventually outgrow 
the "room" his mother insisted they marry into!
They got married
The wife held her territory!
She wasn't going to be aa househelp to his mother!
She made his food and minded her business
His mother saw this as an affront!
"In as much as she is here, she has to be a member of the
family! How could she isolate my son and act as
if he was the only one that matter? 
Couldn't she boil rice for the whole family?
His mother would pack his ears full of complaints
He would in turn lash at the wife
He had to, otherwise, his mother would say 
he was taking his wife's side!
It became a problem!
His mother was in her face all the time!
"My son", "My son" "My son"
Her grip on her children was ironclad! 
It was almost like witchcraft!
The second child, a boy, went off to school
He got "Born Again"
It wasn't what the mother bargained for
"The whole Born Again thing"
It was as if the boy suddenly grew a certain awareness
A strange "independence"
He jettisoned all her emotional hold and wouldn't bow!
She got worried
It must be a woman that has taken over, my son
No God would allow a child to resist his 
own mother this madly
The child simply refused to be her child
He would say "I will not serve two masters,
a mother was not meant to be a prison warden,
children are not meant to be prisoners, 
the Son has set me free, I am free indeed!"
The boy would be taking sides with the elder 
brother's wife
"Stop torturing this poor girl, you have 
daughters too and they will get married one day,
You are exactly the kind of mother-in-law
nobody wants to have!
Other parents made sacrifices for their children
It is what parents do!
We will do the same for our children!
This is witchcraft and wickedness!
She didn't know how her own son could be so
resistant and hurtful!
He made her cry often and she believes he enjoyed 
doing so! Making his own mother unhappy!
Eventually, the boy brought home a lady
He wasn't exactly asking for her permission or blessing
It was more of "Meet her for the sake of meeting her"
She bit her lips throughout!
She didn't like the girl at all
She was also "Born Again", a fanatic like her son
He was supposed to marry a homely girl 
who would want to please her
The boy had rented an apartment
He was getting married and moving away from home!
He was just 29 and acting "all knowing"
While his brother at 32 was still living at home!
Immediately after the boy's wedding
The elder brother also moved out of the house
His marriage of four years had been to hell and beyond
He just told himself "heaven didn't fall when 
my brother moved out, I am moving out too"
She had three children, three boys!
Two of them moved out and the last one was in school!
Suddenly she felt like a childless woman
Nobody to talk to, nobody to relate with?
He could have gone to visit his children
But the relationship between her and them
was no longer that good!
The first son's wife got pregnant right after
they moved out and her son was already acting
as if it was her stress that prevented the girl
from getting pregnant while they were living with her
The boy was a no go area!
Whenever she visited, he and his wife would blast
tongues and refuse to pray in a language she understood
That way she couldn't even say what their mind was!
She decided she needed to restore her children's love
Bring them back home
She asked around!
Someone told her about a man with potent "means"
She went to the man and cried her eyes out!
The man gave her a powdery substance
 and some incantation
It was to wield a spell of love
"Someone had turned the back of her children 
to her, she wanted the charm to be undone!
She wanted her boys back!"
She did as she was instructed
Waited till "Midnight and called the names of 
her three sons, she chanted the incantation
while holding her two breasts and commanded
them to yield to her and her requests as against all
others! She was their mother and their love for
her must be restored as long as they sucked her breasts"
When she was done, she slept!
The next morning, her first son called the second
"I had a strange dream yesternight"
"So did I"
Later in the evening, the third son called the elder ones
"I had a strange dream yesternight"
"So did we" They replied
It was weird and liberating!
The three of them concluded she was a witch
They stopped calling, visiting or talking to her
She tried reaching out to them
"They told her their dream, asked her to renounce
witchcraft and go to a church for deliverance before
they will ever relate with her again!
They didn't want to be afraid of having her in their
homes or to be suspicious!
But she was never a witch! She was just a loving mother
Her plea fell on deaf ears!
One by one, her children relocated out of the country
SHe was left alone, like a barren woman
Abandoned for loving and craving the love of her
children "too" much!

PS: This story happened in FESTAC town, Lagos
The woman's story was moving
She was 70 and had not seen any of her seven grandchildren
not held them!
Her children had stated their terms and stood by it
The children's wives send her money monthly
She was not poor by any means
But she had lost that which she craved the most
The love and fellowship of her children!

Let us learn from God
He released Jesus unto us
And won our hearts for all eternity for doing so
There is something like being "possessive"
If you insist on "possessing" your "loved ones" like a python
You will be treated as a demon!
Cast out and thrown into the abyss!
Love is best when it is free!