Betty tests positive with Jack's cub....

            Betty Chimpo Tarzan waited a few moments before looking at the pregnancy wand that would tell if her embryo implant was on its path toward being a cub by Jack Tarzan.  She had purchased a mid-stream urine test from the pharmacy.  She waited the allotted amount of time and then some for good measure.  She held her breath and looked at the wand.  There were the tell tale double lines indicating a positive result.  She gave a great whoop although no one but old Patsy and the cook were in the house.  She ran down the stairs and then slowed herself, remembering she was newly pregnant.  She peeped in Patsy’s room and saw that the old lady was napping.  She went to the kitchen and asked the cook to prepare something special for tonight’s dinner when she would make her announcement.  She progressed to the dining room where she took the good linens from the antique chest and retrieved new ivory candles to place in the sconces.  She couldn’t wait for Jack to come home.  There would be a big celebration this evening – she was so excited to see his reaction to being a father.   

            Alexandra Simba, after a weekend in Mombasa with her husband and assorted children, was in her State House office going over the old newspapers that Bernice Bear had placed on her desk.  She had just returned from a brief hiatus after being angry with her husband and wrongly thinking he had visited Johanna Delacroix with sex on his mind.  She needed to catch up on the happenings around the Mara and Kenya.  With this in mind she flipped through several back issues of the Masai Mara Daily taking note of the various civic activities that had gone on in her brief absence.  On one of the inside pages of the week before, she found a small squib that made her drop her cigarette on the carpet.  She hastily retrieved it and read on.  The piece was short but said that Johanna Delacroix, formerly of Kenya, had been found bludgeoned and shot to death in a rented flat in London.  Alexandra felt a chill run down her spine.  She got up and walked to Shane’s office.  I was with him, going over some details of his monthly speech to the parliament in Nairobi, when she entered.  She looked rather wan.  He gave her a huge hug and kiss on the lips.  He was so happy and relieved to have her back in the fold. 

“Are you catching up with things, my love?” he asked, not noticing the pallor.

She looked at me with a puzzled expression and I felt the need to vacate the premise and let the couple have some privacy.  This is something I am very good at – giving privacy when needed.  It’s good for your health to do so, is my feeling on the matter.  Never know when things are going to get explosive.  I closed the door behind me. 

Alexandra and Shane discuss the death of Johanna in his office.....

Alexandra lit a cigarette and said, “Shane, are you aware that Johanna Delacroix was found dead in London?  Most probably murdered as I can’t imagine one bludgeoning one’s self to death and then adding a gunshot wound.  It’s not my idea of a feasible suicide situation.  What are your thoughts on the subject?”

He stood stark still, his strange eyes clouded.  He crossed his arms and stood for a few seconds before answering.  She began to tremble ever so slightly.

“You know, Alex, my son Sean asked me if I put a hit man on Johanna.”

“Did you, Shane?”

He shifted his weight and gave a great sigh.  He leaned against his desk. 

“Why the hell would I bother to do that, Alex?  I deported her and that was quite sufficient.  Do you really think I had her murdered?  If you do, I honestly must know.”

She looked closely to see tears welling in his eyes but he kept his icy control. 

“Who would have done it, Luv?” she asked, softening the edge with the ‘Luv’ part.

“Johanna was a serpent, Alex.  She put hooks into her lovers and twisted them cruelly.  She ended up with no males who remained friendly after they had cut her loose.  Most ended up hating Johanna.  She was amoral and had many lovers.  Anyone could have done it.  I wouldn’t contaminate myself with the task of murdering her.  It’s not worth it.  I wanted her gone from Kenya and dispatched her officially.  That’s all there is to that.”

“Oh, Shane, I have been such an ass, thinking you bonked her and then had her killed.  I am rather ashamed of myself at the moment, darling,” she said, placing her hand on his. 

“Don’t be, Alex,” he said, drawing her into his arms.  “The old Shane would have shagged her but I’m not that lion anymore.  I am the lion who is married to the beautiful Alexandra and in love with her beyond my wildest imagination.”

“And Alexandra Simba is so in love with you, my darling, and so glad you’re my husband and the father of my children.”

They stood there for a while, enjoying the feel of their embrace.  Alexandra broke first.

“I have to get back to the office, Luv.  I stuck poor Bernice with the children.  I am sure she is terribly harried.”

“I’ll see you this evening at dinner, darling,” said Shane, giving her a final kiss to the lips. 

      

            Georgy Simba was in the home of Sean Simba.  She was bemoaning her pregnancy and he was tripping around the subject, not having resolved anything with his father about the matter.  In the interim, Georgy was avoiding all contact with her distraught dad, Sloane Simba.  Now that his stepmother was home and his father was no longer preoccupied with that issue, Sean was expecting more flack from Shane. 

“You don’t make love to me anymore, Sean,” complained Georgy. 

“I’m waiting to hear from my dad, Georgy,” muttered Sean whose mind was more on the fact that he had to go and have his new uniform fitted at JAGGERS that had designed the football wear for the new team. 

“What has Uncle Shane got to do with us making love, Sean?” burst out Georgy in total exasperation. 

“He doesn’t approve of me fucking family members is the thing.”

“So what, Sean, it didn’t stop you before.  My dad is not exactly thrilled either.  Are we going to get married?” she wailed.

“Married?” he asked, eyes widening.

“Yes, married.  We are having a litter together.”

“Georgy, I am just starting out on a major sports career.  I have no time for marriage.  I’ll pay for an abortion,” suggested Sean, getting totally rattled now. 

“No, I don’t want an abortion.  I love you, Sean.”

“We’re in the same pride, Georgy.  We can’t get married….it’s not, uh, well,uh…decent. It’s not decent.”

“Bullshit, Sean.  You are sooo full of bullshit,” she said, opening his fly. 

“Want to give me a blow job, Georgy?  That’s not too incestuous.”

“No, we are going to make love right this minute,” she said, shoving him backward onto the bed.  

His protests began to weaken almost the moment they began.  He happily and nobly acquiesced.

            On Friday, Georgy drove to the Serengeti to visit her mother and her uncle, Chris Simba.  As far as handing out advice on out of wedlock pregnancies, Caitlin Cougar, having engaged in two pregnancies sans spouse, was rather lax.  When her daughter reported her condition to her mother, Caitlin merely shrugged and advised Georgy to follow her heart.  In the discussion, Chris Simba didn’t seem so horrified that two pride members had been involved in sex.  He merely related the fact that in the old days, the Simba pride had engaged in a good bit of inbreeding and repeated the much worn rumor that Sloane was not the son of the patriarch, Sean Simba but another Simba pride male.  They were at the dinner table when this discussion came about. 

Georgy (left), her mom Caitlin Cougar and her uncle, Chris Simba (also her mother's lover) at the dinner table in his new home....

“Let’s see,” mused Chris.  “If Sloane is the son of old Tom instead of Grandpa Sean, then you are only kin to Shane’s Sean by the fact that your grandmothers are sisters.  That’s really not a big problem genetically as I see it.  What do you think, Caitlin?”

Caitlin finished chewing her piece of tender steak and put her fork down, “I really know very little about lion prides, Chris.”

“Damn, Cate, you’ve been married to two lions and are now cohabiting with another,” argued Chris. 

“They’re still a mystery to me, Chris,” she chuckled.  “Georgy, you and Sean should follow your hearts is my advice.”

Georgy gulped slightly and then admitted, “Sean doesn’t want to get married.  He says he will pay for an abortion for me.”

“One should never abort a litter,” admonished Caitlin.  “If Sean or your dad give you flack,  just stick to your guns, Georgy.”

“Sean should be ashamed of himself, I’ll speak to his dad about it,” offered Chris, taking another steak from the main platter and beginning to cut it. 

Georgy sat quietly thinking that none of this was very practical advice. 

            However, no one needed to speak to Sean’s dad on the subject of Georgy’s pregnancy.  When Alexandra heard about it, she castigated Shane for not handling the matter sooner. 

“Alex, both those cubs are of legal age and living on their own.  How the hell can I dictate what they are to do?” he asked his wife. 

“Because he is your son and poor Georgy is pregnant.  You need to at least offer some suggestions as to what they should do, Shane.  If you were the father of the female in question, I am sure you wouldn’t be so blasé about matters.”

            It was decided that Sloane, Georgy and Sean should meet with Shane in the mansion two days hence and sort things out.  It was not a gathering that Shane Simba anticipated with any pleasure.   

Betty and Jack at their celebratory dinner....

            The home of Jack and Betty (Chimpo) Tarzan was the scene of a joyous dinner.  All six of Betty’s sons sat at the table as did Betty, Jack, old Patsy and Jack’s sister.  When Betty announced that she and Jack were to have a cub, all present were delighted.  Two bottles of Dom Perignon champagne were opened and the party celebrated the coming event.  Jack couldn’t believe how excited he was at the thought of his own offspring being born soon.  He had much to celebrate.  He patted his wife’s knee under the table, his golden eyes filled with love. 

            The room was filled with tension.  Bright flames graced the fireplace and a tray with whiskey and beer were on the coffee table but these things did nothing to dispel the general apprehension that filled the drawing room in the mansion.  Sloane Simba sat whiskey in hand, cigarette dangling between his fingers and a look of complete gloom on his face.  Georgy and Sean sat forward on the couch looking very nervous.  Sean kept gulping his beer.  Shane sat, legs crossed, with cigarette and drink, looking across the room at his wife who had been dragged into the fray. It was time to sort this mess out and find a solution. 

“Dad, you didn’t marry Jane or Caroline when you knocked them up,” cited Sean who had just heard marriage to Georgy tossed in the air as a possible solution. 

“That’s because he was married to Betty at the time,” remarked Sloane, acidly, miffed at having his soon to be ex-wife’s shenanigans brought forth. 

This particular reference made Alexandra flinch.  This was her husband’s erotic past that was being dragged in.  Why did she have to be present?  Shane, who could no longer do anything of real personal import without his wife’s presence, had requested Alexandra join the group in the room.  She felt that Sloane Simba resented her being there and privy to his oldest daughter’s dirty linen being aired.  Alexandra sat amidst the stressed pride members, a prisoner of her husband’s growing emotional dependence on her.  She remained silent though from time to time Shane’s eyes would light on her as if he wished for her to express her own thoughts.  At last, she aired an opinion. 

“What would be the sin in the two getting married?” she asked.  “I feel that this is what Georgy wants and the genetic factor can’t be all that great.”

Georgy looked up, apparently pleased at the suggestion.  She was the only one.  The three males sat with a look of disquiet on their leonine faces. 

“I am too young to have to marry anyone,” stated Sean.  “I am just beginning my sports career.”

His stepmother was incensed at his arrogance and total disregard for the situation.  She lit a cigarette before saying:

“I think that a certain amount of maturity should accompany the opening of a chap’s zipper and sticking his Willy in someone.”

With that said, she got up and exited the room.  Shane was secretly proud of her.  Sloane decided he was glad Alexandra had joined the discussion.  She had stated exactly what he felt about that little prick Sean but couldn’t voice