Venom

Venom

 

 

She was fifteen when the bile in her guts
 spilled over for the first time
She was a day student at the time
Her boarding house counterparts had a 
cool culture
The culture was popularly called 
"Keeping a Slum book"
A slum book is like a personal yearbook
Each student will get a notebook and make 
it look very attractive
The first page of the book was like a pilot page
All the questions the student wanted to ask 
would be written there
Name, best friend, favourite colour, favourite 
musician, people I like etc
The student would then pass around the book 
to fellow students
The fellow students will fill the slum book
They would mention fellow students they admire, 
are crushing on etc
It made for a very good reading
Especially the relationship status and other 
nutty questions
Students always wanted to sound more interesting
than they truly are
Nothing was more interesting than baring the intimate 
secrets of the soul
She got a book too
She created her own slum book
But the slum book was exclusively for her
Like a personalized colourful diary
She wrote out her questions and instead 
of giving it to other students to fill
She filled the form with her thoughts about
 the people in her world
She wrote about her mother
She wrote that her mother was a lazy bum  who hid 
behind marriage to have an easy life
She explained that her mother was a trained 
secretary who sat at home and chose to become
 a baby making machine rather than face the hard
 life of being an adult
"How could a woman who was educated both in
 the country and abroad claim that
she gave up working because one of her daughters
 got infected with a mysterious ailment at the creche
as an infant? Does that sort of decision show any form
of maturity? If every working parent stopped working
because their child got sick, who would be left to work?
She wrote all sorts
She wrote about her four younger ones too
The pests, the intruders who came into the world to
make the resources of her parents scarce and stretch
the family!"
She picked them one by one and gave them nicknames
The leech, The Sheep, Gullible and the bat!
Her immediate younger sister was the bat 
because she sleeps too much
The leech was the third born, the first boy
Gullible was the last child, the baby of the house
And the sheep was the second boy because 
he lacks personality
"I hate this family, I hate being a member of this family,
Why didn't God put me in a rich family?
Why was I born into this hopeless family?
It was her immediate younger sister that saw
 the "Slum book"
She was attracted by all the lipstick smeared on it
She read until she got to the shocking part
She showed it to their mother
Their mother and siblings also saw it
It was a very bad day
It was as if somebody died!
Their mother couldn't believe her own child 
loathed her that much
When she eventually found out they had seen it
She ran into her room and locked the door
She took serious offence at the intrusion of her privacy
The damage done was almost irreparable
But her mother and siblings did what families always do
They forgave and moved on
Three years later, she was on her way to lectures 
as an undergraduate when she got involved in a 
ghastly motor accident
She was in a coma by the time she was rushed 
to the hospital
Her mother and siblings turned the hospital into a 
second home
They nursed and cared for her until she recovered
In all her recovery took seven years
The plastic surgery she did was in three stages
It cost the family a fortune
Eventually, she was discharged
Her younger sister said "It was the mummy and 
the siblings you
insulted so blatantly that stood by you throughout 
this period,
I think you owe Mummy a debt of gratitude and an 
apology"
She busted into tears
She didn't understand why her younger sister was taking 
advantage of her condition to lecture and insult her
That was how the matter was buried
She never did apologise
life just went on
She graduated and got a job
A few years later she got married 
From the day she delivered her first child she knew something 
was wrong
The baby just wouldn't suck her breast
It wasn't lactose intolerance or anything of such
The baby would eat anything but suckle at her breast
She was living in New Jersey at the time
Her husband advised her to bring her mother over to take
 care of the baby
She made the arrangements
Her mother took over the care of the baby
She was working as a nurse at the time
It was as if the baby had something against her from heaven
If she carried the baby, her own child, the baby would cry as
 if she was pinching or stinging him
But if her mother carried the baby, the baby would 
rest and sleep
She had her second and third child and the same 
scenario ensued
Her children wanted nothing to do with her
RIGHT FROM BIRTH!
It brought her much sorrow
She told someone in her office
They told her she was too dependent on her mother
"If you send your mother home, they would adjust"
She thought about it and decided to give it a try
The week her mother travelled back home, her children fell sick
But she was determined to force herself down their throat
She would say "I am your mother if you want to die! Die!
I will not be estranged from my own children"
She was going to condition them to love her
She was going to manipulate them to develop feelings for her
When the children were eventually discharged, 
she made them sleep in her room
She wanted them to get used to her
To feel their mother's heartbeat
She continued to remind them that she was their mother
she would say "I labour every day over you,
I work for several hours so that you can have the best
I bought you designer clothes, put you in private schools,
gave you the best! I shouldn't have to struggle to get a
smile or an "I love you" from you.
If you don't tell me you love me, I will not buy you anything
again! I cannot be labouring to give you the best
and still be begging for your affection!
Her children seemed incapable of loving her!
The older her children grew, the less they loved her
She didn't get it
She worked and laboured, she was the type of mother 
children were supposed to love and appreciate
It just didn't happen!
Eventually, she decided it had to be spiritual
Somebody somewhere must be turning her children's back
 against her in the spirit realm
She went to churches in and around New Jersey
She saw prophets, apostles, pastors and 
General Overseers
She got messages, instructions and directions
Nothing worked!
At fifteen, she brought her children home to 
spend the holidays
They met their grandmother and other relatives
They met the families of all her siblings
She begged for forgiveness, she apologised, 
she cried and pleaded on her knees
"Mummy please forgive me, I was foolish and selfish
Please pray for me! She wept and wept
She asked her mother and siblings to please pray for her
She had silver and gold
But the one thing her heart really desired was the 
love of her children
Her mother and her siblings prayed for her and blessed her
Her mother and siblings also blessed and prayed for her children


PS: The Lord heard her cry
Something changed 
It's been three years since the family blessed her
She could testify to the remarkable difference in 
her children's attitude towards her
She thanked God for the gift of forgiveness