ASHLEY SEEKS TOOKIE
Love is not the dying moan of a distant violin - it's the triumphant twang of a bedspring.
S.J. Perelman
Ashley Ralph Lyon had not engaged in many quarrels with his pretty and charming second wife, Leah Simba Lyon. She was too adorable and compliant to fuss with a great deal. However, Leah had a burr firmly in place in her anatomy. She wanted the same procedure as Betty Chimpo Simba had when her sister, Gloria, had donated a uterus and she had managed three cubs with Leah’s uncle, Shane Simba. Leah, usually an easy going sort, wanted to give birth to more of Ashley’s natural offspring instead of adoptions. Ashley feared childbirth for Leah, having almost lost her once and having her incarcerated in the clinic the full term for their twins, Sim and Adam Lyon. To make a long story short, this tug of war had introduced a certain amount of contention in the Ashley/Leah marriage.
Tookie Simba, who had married a human and given birth to a human child in recent months, was busily working in her office as manager of the multifaceted Mombasa Simba Resort and Marina. The door opened to reveal the handsome Ashley. He walked in and gave Tookie a warm hug and kiss, remembering fondlly the time they had been lovers. He was in town to check on his own resort and the recently created Lyon-Leoparde Golf Club. Tookie invited Ashley to sit and lit a cigarette. Leaning back in her desk chair, she surveyed him with a critical eye.
“What’s wrong, Ash? You seem down in the mouth,” she said, exhaling a strong stream of smoke which curled its way to the ceiling fan.
“It’s Leely, she wants more cubs and a donated uterus like Betty received from her sister. Some pride member of yours has offered hers. I’m afraid she will die from childbirth like she almost did with Imani. But it’s an issue with Leah now and she is like a damn dog with a bone when she gets something in that head of hers.”
Tookie narrowed her khaki eyes and stubbed out her cigarette. She felt an urge to make love to Ashley again. She cared for her human husband but did not find sex with him up to par with a male lion – and Ashley Lyon was just plain great in the sack. At any rate, her hubby was on a ten day cruise on the resort’s main sailing yacht. He was the skipper for some wealthy guests that wanted to sail to Madagascar and back.
“Ash, I’m almost through for the day. Why don’t we go to my place and kick back? We can have some drinks and talk about this,” suggested Tookie.
Tookie opened the door of her home on the grounds of the Mombasa Simba Resort and saw her baby and nanny off for an extended walk. Ashley followed her to the bar where she poured two Scotches. Tookie went to her bedroom and emerged wearing a flimsy, silken robe. It was obvious to Ashley that she had nothing on underneath. Remembering the shit that had hit the fan when he boned Tookie during Leah’s second pregnancy, he felt nervous.
“Don’t get me worked up, Took, please. You know what a weakness I have for you anyway.”
She came to stand very close, wrapping her arms around his neck. Their eyes were inches apart.
“You have Shane’s eyes, Tookie,” uttered the very tense Ashley.
“Oh damn, Ash, I didn’t realize you and my brother were so close. However our pride members tell us we resemble each other – they say I look like Shane in drag,” she laughed.
“I’m just trying to make conversation in order to avoid what I actually want to do,” he groaned.
“And what is that?” she sighed, licking his neck.
“Make love to you.”
“What’s stopping us? We’re consenting adults and the house is empty except for the two of us. No one is expected home either. Just the baby and his nanny and they will go straight to the nursery.”
She took his paw and led him to her bedroom. He removed her gown slowly.
Ashley and Tookie in her bedroom.....
I accompanied Shane on a one day trip to the site of the Kenya Airways crash in Cameroon. It was a pathetic sight with grieving relatives and loved ones interacting with those attempting recovery of the bodies. Our airline hasn’t had an air crash since the year 2000. I was terribly depressed when we arrived back in the Mara and was glad to have my wonderful Lachlan welcome me home with a drink and great meal. Lachlan is now, in addition to directing the mental health center, on the board of the new Kenya Medical Facility and seeing patients there several evenings a week. The good news is that we both have very active careers and each of us is dedicated and understanding of the other’s irregular working hours.
Me, Shane and Masai body guard at the site of the crash in Cameroon....
Luke Leoparde was chomping at the bit to continue his hot and heavy relationship with Staci Simba. The fly in the ointment was the fact that Jane was home a lot more and he enjoyed her company. When asked about her relationship with Shane, she merely told him she wanted it to cool a bit so as not to hurt Betty Simba who had just given birth to twins. He saw Staci during her lessons with him for instrument flight training.
Staci had her own set of romantic fish to fry. She was able to fly the AIDS team to various villages in Kenya now that she had her pilot’s license. Her father had allotted government funds to purchase a Cessna that would contain the entire team and their medical supplies and equipment. She would fly, with Dr. Juma Mnyama in the co-pilot’s seat next to her. Doubling up on her nursing school classes, she was hastening her graduation enabling her to someday take her place as Juma’s main nurse.
Staci landed the Cessna on an airstrip near the village of Homabay in the province of Nyanza. The AIDS team got into a transport truck that took them to the rather primitive village. Staci was put in quarters close to Juma’s. That night in the muted light from a kerosene lamp, they made love on his uncomfortable bed, laughing at the springs that threatened to pierce their hides. They drank bad wine and giggled more relating their childhoods.
Juma and Staci in his quarters in the village....
The next morning they woke in each other’s arms and had another hearty guffaw at their hangovers from the cheap, village made wine. Under one of the few available trees, they drank Earl Grey tea in the afternoon.
“Staci, I am a serious contender now. I am definitely falling in love with you,” Juma told her.
“I have to think about my career. That must come first, Juma.”
“I know that, I am an integral part of your career and I want your concentration. However, I also want you to love me back.”
“That’s not a difficult assignment,” she giggled as he pulled her to her feet and back to work.
Lucy Cougar was working closely with her new doctor. Lucy, like Staci Simba, was a brilliant female and fast learner. She was also doubling on her nursing classes in order to finish and become Dr. Trevor Tau’s primary nurse at the new facility where he headed the malaria program. She was working as his assistant on his evening rounds. She wished she had his sexual attention but that could wait for later, she thought as she scurried to catch up in the polished halls of the Kenya Medical Facility.
Caroline Cheetah Simba was not becoming pregnant as she wished. She had been married to Sloane for a while now and they made love constantly. She pondered the thought that she had been damaged by an abortion and miscarriage. She had once been so fecund that one bang with Shane Simba in the official train had produced her only cub, Sunny. Sloane already had a cub so his fertility was proven. Caroline fretted and purchased a fertility kit from the pharmacy in the mall, which included a thermometer and litmus paper. She was propped up in bed one evening, her long legs crossed on a pillow, thermometer in her mouth.
“What’s that for, Babe?” asked Sloane, getting naked and crawling in next to her.
“Check for ovulation,” she garbled around the thermometer.
“Caroline, you have been pregnant three times, you don’t have a problem with conception,” said her husband, removing the thermometer from her mouth.
“I haven’t gotten pregnant, Sloane, and we’ve been fucking our brains out even in your office bathroom at noon,” she whined.
“Chill out, Babe,” he groaned, removing her pants and diving between her silken legs.
“Oooooh, you didn’t, Staci?” squealed her cousin Lee Simba.
“I said only maybe , Lee,” giggled Staci.
Staci and Lee were in their living room with daiquiris in paw.
“You indicated that you had sex with Dr. Mnyama,” crowed Lee.
“I’m not saying definitively, Lee,” teased Staci.
“My cousin, Linda Cougar, would die to get in his scrubs,” Lee giggled, falling back on the sofa.
“Well, Miss Linda can’t have him, Lee. I want him.”
“What about Luke?” yelped Lee.
“Luke is a married male. I love him but he’s another female’s husband,” stated Staci in her primmest manner.
“Aw bollocks!” laughed Lee.
The two young roommates fell into another peal of giggles and ran for the kitchen and more strawberry daiquiris.
Betty slathered oil on her toned body in full view of her husband. They were enjoying the bush house pool which was complete with a water fall. They were alone except for the twins. Solly was enjoying his first spend the night party at the river home of his cousins and uncle, Sam Simba. The house was quiet, the staff taking their afternoon customary African siestas. Shane looked at his wife through squinted eyes.
“Why don’t you do away with that suit, Fifi? I’ll join you in the pool. We’ll rendezvous under the waterfall. How does that sound?”
“Absolutely marvelous,” she said, beginning to peel off her very brief bikini.
He removed his bathing suit and dove in the water, heading toward the water fall. She got in and swam toward him. There in the tumbling fall, they made love time and time again.
Betty and Shane in their pool....
“Daddy, I may be in love with Juma Mnyama,” stated Staci Simba, in a matter of fact manner as she sat with Shane in Mombasa at their beach home.
He looked up from the New York Times in surprise.
“I thought you sort of went for Luke Leoparde. He’s such a gentleman, Staci.”
“He is that and you like for me to see him because he is your lover’s husband, Daddy.”
“Bravely spoken, honeybunch,” laughed Shane, lighting a cigarette and giving his daughter a direct gaze. “What makes you think you’re in love with Mnyama, Staci?”
“I just have feelings that are different when I’m with him. When I’m with Luke, I love him but it’s not the same as Juma. At any rate, Daddy, I have plenty of time to make those decisions. First the career,” she giggled, jumping up to get herself a beer.
Shane sat amazed at his daughter who was so like Catherine physically but becoming like him in other ways - possibly the wrong ones. When Staci dropped in the chair again with her ice cold beer, Shane had another question to pop.
“Are you having sex with both of these guys, Staci?”
“Yeah, Daddy – it’s cool! I’m on the pill.”
“Dear God,” muttered her father under his breath.
“What Daddy?”
“Nothing……nothing at all.”