ASHLEY AND LUCY TAKEOFF
You know when you have
found your prince because you not only have a smile on your face but in your heart as well.
Author Unknown
A match made in heaven could best describe Ashley Lyon’s budding relationship with Lucy Cougar. Ashley had not contemplated the fact that Lucy was the daughter of his dad’s dearest friend and ocean buff, Bernard Cougar. No one as close to Bernard as was his daughter, Lucy, could miss a proper and well rounded education where the joys of the sea were concerned. Having grown up around boats and water, Lucy was a Mombasa lover from her days as a small cub. Bernard had taught his youngest daughter to swim and boat at an early age.
Lucy and Ashley in Mombasa on the beach in front of his house......
The new lovers’ first tryst on the beach was a stay at Ashley’s home. There, Lucy and Ashley arose early and partook of every single water sport available to them. Another major perk was the fact that Lucy was a cousin to Ashley’s best pal and business partner, Luke Leoparde. Lucy was also compatible with Luke’s wife, Jane. Jane had once taken the hapless Lucy under her wing at the Masai Mara Daily when Lucy had come under the scrutiny and volatile personality of the late Catherine Cheetah Simba. It all neatly pigeon holed when Ashley and Lucy went deep sea fishing with Jane and Luke. Lucy, of course, had three cubs by Alexander Simba. That didn’t really make a ripple in Ashley’s fur. He had one son by Betty Chimpo and five by way of his marriage to Leah Simba. Three were natural born and two adopted by the now defunct couple. Another happy side to this romance was the fact that Ashley and Lucy’s parents were best friends. Another slight aside was the fact that both enjoyed bouts of great sex. Lucy was in love again and Ashley was at least in lust. For the time being, things bode well for the twosome. They were certainly in time to partake of Staci Simba and Juma Mnyama’s prenuptial festivities. Being members of the A-List animals in the Mara, they were invited to all.
Sarah Lee Simba decided to boycott all wedding festivities for her granddaughter, Staci Simba. The object of her ire was not the loving Staci, but her son Shane’s renewal of his affair with the human Johanna Delacroix. Shane could have cared less. Sarah Lee fumed as her sister, Leander, dressed for an elaborate occasion, would leave the house in a car sent by the President. Sarah Lee couldn’t persuade her only daughter, Tookie, to back off from the soirees either. Tookie Simba who had borne a human child by her human ex-husband, using the French Procedure, was taking full advantage of her niece’s invitations and having an absolute blast.
Shane sent Johanna to shop with his credit card. She was wealthy in her own right but since she was living with him now, he wanted her to purchase all she needed for Staci’s bridal parties. There was a little something to the fact that being with the gorgeous Johanna was balm to his soul. Johanna never failed to look breathtaking. In the early morning, she still looked wonderful, with her tousled bedroom hair. He couldn’t resist making love to her in the predawn hours. She never failed to match his passion though in the early stages of pregnancy. Shane chalked that one up as a plus mark for pregnant humans. Whatever odd glue held them together, they seemed to be morphing into a couple - one that was exceptionally striking and enjoying their great looks and physicality.
the beautiful lover of Shane Simba - Johanna Delacroix..
Simone Serval placed a call to Alexander Simba. He was busy with peak hours at the Simba Gardening Center.
“Alex, do you want us to see each other again?” she mewed.
“No, Simone. I’m not going in after Ashley Lyon,” he said, hanging up.
Betty saw her aunt off in a rented Jeep driven by Ashley Lyon who wanted to take a peek at his recovering ex-wife and was happy to transport her aunt back to the Mara in his plane.
Betty’s sling was off, with her healing scars plain to see on one arm and shoulder. Ashley had brought her some Scotch and the usual cigarettes. Betty lit one and poured a drink. She went to her deck and sat down, waiting to see Tarzan when he shored his boat for the day. The birds reeled over the lake in expectation of the incoming dhows filled with fresh fish. The sun was setting with crimson streaks across the placid surface of the lake. She spotted Tarzan’s boat sail and went to stand at the railing. He lowered the sail and pulled it on the beach in that effortless way that so amazed the human fishermen. He took a minute or two wrapping his usual grouper, then headed for her house.
“Come on up,” she called gaily. “It’s my first day in the house alone. We’ll have a drink to celebrate.”
He walked up the stairs and handed her the wrapped fish.
“I’ll go home and get cleaned up and come back. We’ll have a party. I’ll cook the fish.”
As the sun left the sky causing the collapse of the brief equatorial twilight, she heard foot steps and knew it must be Tarzan. He arrived bearing a wobbly wooden case of local beer. He put it on the counter and opened one with his teeth.
“What happened to Miss Ffi?” he asked.
“She returned to the Mara. She works in Shane’s office and enjoys it no end.”
“How did he feel about your coming back, Betty?”
“He has his lover and she’s pregnant. He’ll live,” she smiled.
Tarzan drank beer and Betty changed to the local wine. He looked handsome and very rugged in his cut offs and faded shirt. There were, as usual, no shoes.
“So life as the president’s wife is over for you?”
“Yes, we are still friends.”
He grilled the fish, this time in the kitchen using her oven. They ate at the table on her deck. Tarzan clicked glasses with Betty in a toast to her recovery. After supper they gazed at the stars, Betty smoking a cigarette. Tarzan drank more beer. It was a Saturday night. The stars were in profusion across the deep and inky African sky. The night birds sang mixing their calls with the cicadas. Betty suddenly felt dizzy. She tried to get up and stumbled slightly. Tarzan got to his feet.
“Too much wine or still feeling your wounds?” he asked, holding her steady with a strong arm.
“I sort of collapse in the evening. I’ll get better as time goes on,” she assured him. “Aunt Fifi used to help me to bed.”
“Here let me,” he said, leading her to her room.
“May I call you Jack now?” she asked him, clutching his shirt front with a frail hand.
“Neither one is my true name, Betty.”
“I don’t want to call you Ugh or whatever your mother called you. You are far too special for that. You look like a Jack.”
He put the other arm around her and pulled her to him.
“What does a ‘Jack’ look like?”
“You…wonderful you.”
He sat her on the bed, sitting next to her. He held his great head in his paws for a few minutes and was totally silent.
“What’s wrong? Did I say or do something wrong?”
“Betty, I don’t even know how to kiss any female but a lioness.”
“I’ll teach you, Jack. I’ll show you everything.”
The President went once more to the Mt. Elgon district where cattle rustling continued and land feuds still raged. He invited the Ugandan President to meet with him and attempt to settle the situation with the rustlers who were crossing Kenya's border nightly and ripping off the livelihood of the local farmers and cattlemen. It was a big story so Jane Leoparde covered the trip. Meetings between the Presidents lasted all day and were held in the community center in nearby Kitale. In the late evening, the Ugandan president left. Shane insisted that Jane accompany him to his retreat there. Tired and pregnant, the lioness reporter acquiesced.
Jane sat stretched on a sofa in the living area of the retreat. She was dead tired and drinking a beer. Shane paced the floor with a Scotch.
“Janie, I don’t understand what made you turn against me. You were my mainstay….the love of my life.”
“The love of your life? If I hadn’t married Luke Leoparde when I did, I would have become just another notch on your belt….another female that bored you to tears,” she told him, lighting a Marlboro.
“I could never become bored with you, Janie,” moaned Shane, pouring another four fingers of Scotch in his glass.
“Of course you could, Shane. That’s what you do for a living – get bored with the females in your harem.”
“Jane, these are outrageous accusations...harem?” he roared, his green eyes fiery.
“That is why I always loathed male lions. You are all about yourselves, taking females that strike your fancy, pushing the envelope on every corner. I met you and thought you were different. I was dead wrong.”
“Does this mean that you have ceased to love me, Jane?” he growled.
“No, unfortunately once bitten I am like poor Betty. I will never be cured of you but I can at least lead a meaningful life with Luke. Good night, Mr. President. I am sleeping in the spare bedroom.”
She slammed the door to the guest room. He heard the lock click.
The gentle waves on Lake Tanganyika swayed Tarzan’s dhow like a sweet cradle. Betty sat under the awning and drank a beer. Tarzan started the motor and headed the boat toward a far shore. The night before had been beyond description. Whatever Tarzan didn’t know about making love to species other than lions, he quickly learned. Betty sat back in the boat and watched his heavily muscled back as he steered. He had stayed the night with Betty, rising very early and leaving the bed to pad to the deck where the sun was beginning its day’s journey. She joined him. They drank coffee.
“You are one fast learner, Jack,” said Betty, rubbing his back.
“Hmmm,” was his only response.
“Why so quiet?”
“Do you want to go to another shore of the lake today, Betty?”
“I’d love to. Are you okay with what we did last night?”
“What’s not to be okay with, Betty?”
They put ashore on a far bank and grilled fish Tarzan had caught. He was quiet but attentive to her needs. As the sun was hanging low on the horizon they made their way back.
He towed his boat to shore near her house. They got out and walked toward the chalet on pilings. At the base of the steps, he stopped.
“Get a good night’s rest, Betty. This has been a long day.”
“Aren’t you coming up, Jack?”
“Nope. See ya.”
And then he was gone in the looming darkness. She didn’t see him for three days.
Nerves will certainly have their way with future brides. It was no different with Staci Simba. Though Staci is the most even tempered of young cats, she still felt jitters when she thought of the commitment she had made to Juma Mnyama. She adored him but that didn’t lessen her bouts of nerves. She was about to get married and felt the pressure. She wished she hadn’t asked her father for such a huge wedding. Now, however, it was to be a fact of life. Her dad was no help at all. He seemed awfully tense these days. Staci blew up with Juma only to weep in his arms in a passionate makeup session.
The next big party for the engaged couple was hosted by the Daniel and Stella (Simba) Lyon in their bungalow in the Lyon pride compound. It was an outdoor picnic with much drink and festivities. Ashley attended with Lucy Cougar. There, for the first time, he met up with his ex-wife, Leah, who was with Dr. Trevor Tau. Ashley shook paws with the lion doctor before making his way to Lucy and dancing with her to the sound of the band that had been hired for the occasion. Shane attended with the dazzling Johanna. They appeared very into each other as they danced to the more romantic numbers presented by the musicians.
Leah with Trevor Tau in Daniel and Stella's home for the party honoring Staci and Juma Mnyama...