Balikis was living overseas when she decided to visit grandma in Nigeria for holiday, she boarded a flight down to her village.
Ma Deola her grandma was excited to see her grandchild as the other grandchildren were around too, she ensured she had prepared her favorite delicacy as a welcome home gift for Balikis.
After eating, Balikis narrated how living overseas was not just for Grandma but for two other cousins who came to spend the holiday with grandma too but from Nigeria.
At night, they took a stroll to buy a roasted yam at the junction, their names were Balikis, Feyi, and Shola. They had a nice time talking on the road and ensured they enjoyed their short visit.
It was time to sleep, Shola had forgotten to fuel the gen so they depended on the Power supply to illuminate the room and in no time, the power supply was restored.
"Shola and Feyi, is this how Nigeria plays mind games with light? I can't remember staying without a power supply in Chicago", Balikis said to her two cousins as they lay on the bed.
Some hours later, they fell asleep, and Balikis could feel something cold walking on her body. It was feeling like a long and curly thing that was almost wrapping around her legs and then Balikis woke up, lo and behold it was a black python that crept from grandma's window since the building was situated around the bush.
" Snakeeeeee!", Balikis screamed and the other cousins woke up, they saw the snake, and they stood up about to run, but immediately the power supply went out.
"Jesus!", how do we find the snake to kill in darkness? What kind of a thing is this?" Feyi said.
They held their hands together and jumped blindly and ran around the room with instinct, whenever they felt something cold, they screamed again.
"Should we wake mama up?" Shola said, "We would but her room is far from ours, how do we know where to place our foot", Balikis said as she was almost passing out, she managed to grab an umbrella that was beside her and started to hit the bed blindly.
They began screaming, and the scream woke ma Deola up, so she ran to check on her grandchildren, she usually had an ancient lantern on, so she took it with her to see what was happening.
As they sighted their grandma, they ran off to meet her, " Mama snake", they chorused.
Ma Deola went into their room and she saw the snake curled up at the edge of the bed.
She busted into laughter, "This snake came in to exchange pleasantries with you, it is our tradition for this snake named " Eke" to visit our grandchildren or anyone who comes to spend holiday here with us, it is harmless, now my children go back to sleep".
"Never, I can't sleep in this room again, Balikis said, " Mama, I'll sleep, Feyi said. While shola was still at the door side in shock she asked "How will a snake visit humans?"
Grandma sat them down and told them the origin of the snake and why it comes visiting and why the snake should never be killed because it was an abomination. "If it's fine with how long it has stayed, it will leave on its own." As mama just finished talking, the power supply was restored and soon, the snake crept gently out of the window.
And then the children sighed in relief, "What a tradition", they chorused and then Balikis asked." Will it come back again?" "No, my daughter, it has gone for good till you come visiting again"
And then they hugged Ma Deola and went back to sleep.