Maurice & Friends

Betty Chimpo slept well the night before her eldest son’s wedding. She breakfasted with Shane Simba on the back veranda of her home on Leoparde Drive. The day was a glorious one. It would be the day five big feline families came together in the marriage of two young animals – Arlon Lyon and Lee Simba. The union of this couple is the genetic combination of the Leoparde, Cougar big cat families and the two main lion prides in the region – Simba and Lyon. Moreover, one must mention the Chimpo family although there is none of their DNA in Arlon Lyon though Betty Chimpo is his mother. It is an exciting day and Betty and Shane glory in the beauty of the morning as they drink coffee and enjoy Eggs Benedict.

At five o’clock on the still lovely and very clear day it is time to proceed to the First Church of the Ascending Predator where the wedding will take place. Betty has requested that I sit with her since Lachlan can’t make the ceremony. I have seen this glorious church built by the Leoparde family on other august occasions but never had I seen it so beautifully appointed as this very special day and wedding. I am seated by the usher and think of Lawrence Leoparde, my deceased lover, whose family made this lovely sanctuary possible. The President enters and sits next to me. Betty is seated between us. I feel myself choke up and look sideways at Betty whose tears are sliding down her cheeks. The music is so breathtaking. Former president and first lioness, Ralph and Mildred Lyon are seated across the aisle from us. Then we all stand to sing I Vow to Thee My Country. The choir sings Jerusalem, Shane Simba’s favorite hymn. This ends and Ashley Lyon and his son, Arlon, come from the wing of the church to await Arlon’s bride. They stand at the altar looking handsome as princes and Betty grabs my hand. The Trumpet Voluntary begins and we all stand and face the rear of the church. Small Cathy Lyon, daughter of Staci Simba and Ashley Lyon spreads rose petals from a dainty basket but stops short as she sees her grandfather, Shane Simba, on the aisle seat. He leans down and gently nudges her toward the completion of her mission. The bridesmaids come slowly down the aisle, first Staci Simba the matron of honor and later, Imani Lyon, the groom's oldest sister. Then it is the bride, Lee Simba on the arm of her father, Roy Lee Simba. She looks lovely and glows with happiness as does her husband to be.

The ceremony was lovely and very moving and then it is on to the elaborate estate of Roy Lee Simba and a reception to end all receptions. I am so happy when Lachlan arrives and squeezes my arm. To say that everyone was there would be no exaggeration. Even Mavis Chimpo came with her son, Chico Chimpo. Roy Lee and his wife, Janice, had cleared their huge screening room to make space for dancing. Betty looked relaxed and happy. She spotted Jane, the lioness reporter who is married to Luke Leoparde one of the bride’s cousins and Ashley Lyon’s best friend and partner.

“Shane, darling, you must dance with Jane so she won’t think you rude,” said Betty. “After all she was your lover and has two of your children.”

“My God, Betty, if I danced with everyone here that I’ve screwed, I’d never get a chance to dance with you again,” he protested.

Lachlan and I were standing with them and Lachlan burst into laughter at this honest declaration.

Roy Lee gave a great guffaw and said, “Sheesh, Shane, be blunt about it.”

“Shiiiit, Bro,” adds inelegant brother, police Chief Bubba Simba.

Bertram Baboon is close and overhears. He raises a disapproving brow.

Betty giggled and said, “Shane, darling, that is absolutely disgraceful.”

Shane didn’t dance with Jane. He didn’t request that Betty dance with Dickey Simba who was there with his wife, Cutty. Shane and Betty danced with each other broken only by Arlon dancing with his mother. I did see a drunken Chloe Cougar take Dickey by the arm and lead him to the dance floor. Cutty kept a good face on the matter and chatted in gamely fashion with Gloria and Bertram Baboon.

the new Mr. and Mrs. Arlon Lyon after their wedding.... Betty Chimpo at her son's wedding......

little Cathy Lyon spots her grandfather....

The day after the wedding, things returned to normal. On that weekend, Shane took Betty to a secluded dinner at Croc’s Bar & Grill on the Mara River where he had met her again on his return from Botswana after Catherine had died. Hippi Potomus and her hubby, Croc Crocodile welcomed the couple. It was a quiet evening with a slight drizzle of rain which gave a cozy air to the inviting deck. The couple ordered drinks. Shane, dressed casually pulled a box from his khaki slack’s pocket and opened it. It held a startlingly beautiful ring. He placed it on Betty’s engagement finger and held it there.

“Fifi, I want you to accept this ring. I would like to marry you again but at least keep this ring because I love you,” he said.

“Oh, Shane, it’s so beautiful and I love you too. I’m just so leery of marrying you again because – well, you’ll become bored.”

“Betty, do you think that I have absolutely no capacity for change?”

“I’m not saying that, darling….honestly, I love everything about you.”

“But you don’t trust me. That’s the issue, isn’t it?”

“Yes, that’s the issue, Shane. I am so afraid of your hurting me again, darling.”

“I don’t blame you, Fifi. Shall we order?”

After a hearty meal, they noticed the rain had stopped. They walked down the stairs to the bank of the Mara River. Night shadows of crocodiles and river animals were about but the couple walked anyway. The moon was full and lovely.

“I will prove myself to you, Fifi, if it takes a million years. Just don’t go off somewhere,” said Shane.

“I’m going nowhere, Shane. I love you too damn much. I always have loved you since the moment I met you.”

“I adore you, Betty.”

Shane and Betty frolic on the bank of the Mara River....

Cutty Sark Simba squealed with excitement. She was in her husband’s office in the State House when she had received word from the clinic.

“Oh, Marla,” she told Dickey’s secretary. “I’m pregnant, isn’t that wonderful?”

Marla Meerkat didn’t think so but she hid her chagrin and managed a weak “Oh yes.”

When Dickey returned from Shane’s office, Cutty hugged him and told him the news.

“We’ll celebrate tonight, Cutts,” he told her.

Arlon Lyon called from the Seychelles to say that he and his bride, Lee, were having a wonderful time on their honeymoon. The happy couple placed calls to Roy Lee Simba, Chloe Cougar, Ashley Lyon and Betty Chimpo who was with Shane in his bush house at the time.

Georgy Simba leans she is preggers once more....

Georgy Simba learned the news by way of bouts of morning sickness which sent her to Dr. Sylly Cougar Lyon’s office yet again.

“You’re pregnant again, Georgy, but you’re healthy and young so I’m sure you will be just fine,” advised the doctor.

“I hope Sean will be happy with this,” mused Georgy.

“I believe he had a part in creating this situation, Georgy. So he’d better be happy, right?” chuffed Sylly.

“Yeah…right.”

The laid back, slap happy Sean Simba was A-okay with his wife’s pregnancy. They shared a house with their cousin, Troy Simba and married life had not cramped his style the least bit. For Sean, it was all about being a jock and sports star. Georgy and Sean loved their young son, Cougar, and didn’t mind having more offspring. At any rate, married life had made him better at football and soccer and his coach, Junior Lyon, finally approved of his condition and playing ability. No more drunken nights. Georgy made sure her husband was in bed at the proper hour and not hung over for practice. Their marriage worked surprising well.

Sarah Lee Simba, the lioness who became the mother of a president, died suddenly in her sleep. It was a nice way to go and she had been in very poor health of late but the demise of the main Simba matriarch threw the pride into a tizzy. Oddly enough, it was the son who had not been close at all – almost to the point of enmity – who was hit the hardest; they say guilt does that. Shane Simba was shocked and horrified at his mother’s passing away. Sam and Roy Lee Simba, who had been the closest to their mother, were grieved but at peace with her death. Shane, who had not been close at all, was – well for want of a better word – wrecked at the lioness’s end. Betty was with him when he heard the news from Roy Lee who lived just next door to his mom. Shane wept and leaned on Betty at the funeral which was filled with pathos and gaucheness, considering the Simba’s humble origins. Sarah Lee was a rather tacky female who had mapped out her wishes for an elaborate funeral early on. And that was exactly what she got, being the President’s mummy. Bubba Simba keened loudly as did his four lionesses when the coffin was taken into the church. Bubba’s favorite lioness, Lulu, dressed like a tart with full cleavage gaping. Sam and his wife, Tawny (Tigeres) Simba were dignified and kept their grief private as did Roy Lee and Janice Simba. Leander Simba, who shared the mansion on Leoparde Drive with her sister, was her usual plastered self and held up by her son, Sloane Simba. She hiccupped loudly during the service. Goosey Simba, Dickey’s outrageous mother – another sister – wore a red hat and chewed gum noisily, popping it on occasion. Ralph Lyon took me aside after the service.

“Maury, have you ever seen a more vulgar display? Old Sarah Lee couldn’t have gotten a more colorful send off if she was the Maharani of Jaipur – all cow bells, confetti and tits in your face,” he quipped.

I suppressed a giggle and told him I totally agreed.

We went from the church to a reception at Shane’s bush residence where he got quite drunk and Betty once again came to the rescue.

Simba brothers, Shane, Roy Lee and Sam comfort each other at their mother's funeral..

The talk of the Mara turned from the elegant Arlon Lyon wedding to the outrageous funeral for Sarah Lee Simba. It was chatted about that the Simba pride had been very lowly stuff indeed before Bertram Baboon had made a superstar out of Roy Lee. Even Maude and Harold Hyena took me aside at the funeral and remarked on the trashiness of it all. When hyenas remark on things of a tawdry nature, one knows it must be the pits.

As for Shane Simba, Betty knew she had her work cut out for her. His grief knew no bounds. Of course, it was formed of guilt that he and his mother had detested one another. Betty reminded him of his mother’s blaming him for his young littermate’s death at the jaws of a hyena pack. It did no good whatsoever. It finally came to this.

“Shane, I know you have lost your mother but you are a strong male lion and can deal with it. She did you more harm than you ever did her. I am going to my house now. I have to prepare for a new semester at the university and see my publisher in New York before I begin my classes again.”

Betty Chimpo took Kenya Airways night flight to New York City and went to her apartment in Manhattan.