Betty comes home....
Jealousy would be far less torturous if we understood that love is a passion entirely unrelated to our merits. ~Paul Eldridge~
On the last day in the village in northern Kenya, Mildred Lyon and Betty sat under a tree for a much needed tea break. As Mildred stirred her tea she looked to her long time friend and former daughter-in-law with concern.
“Betty, you don’t have the usual joyous look on your face that you’ve had since marrying Shane. Is there something wrong?”
“We’re having some problems, Millie. I feel like I’m in a fishbowl trying to deal with them. I think Shane is interested in someone else and I feel so confined in trying to cope with it.”
The former first lioness’ golden eyes saddened as she gazed into the distance.
“I know where you’re coming from, Betty. I had to go through Ralph’s affairs with Dodi Dik Dik and Aurora Leopardiaz in that same fishbowl. It was terrible. I even spent some time back in my mother’s home in her pride territory. Maybe Shane’s interest is not serious. Lawrence Leoparde saved my sanity. I hope you have someone.”
“I have Lachlan Lion who is terrific.”
Mildred speaks with of her ordeals in the State House.....
When the helicopter with Betty landed on the State House lawn, Staci and Sean came running to greet her. She went directly to the mansion and chatted with the children for a long while. She was weary from her tiring and emotional trip. She took a shower and went to the den for a drink. She heard the elevator open and Shane came in. He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the top of her head. She didn’t get up to greet him as she normally would have. He got a drink and sat down with her, pulling her close. She resisted slightly and tensed.
“Betty, am I going to be punished for an affair I never had?”
“I’m still so hurt that you even wanted her, Shane. I just can’t loosen up. It may be foolish but there it is……”
“Betty, just being attracted to a female doesn’t mean I am going to fuck her and leave you or love you less. I don’t think you know how males are constructed, even now, despite four marriages on your tab.”
He got up, lit a cigarette and poured another drink for himself. He stood with his back to her, his eyes fixed on the lowering sun over the savanna revealed by the picture window.
“I have never loved a male like I do you, Shane. I suppose I don’t react normally to any inclinations you have toward other females. I wanted to run away from you the other night but couldn’t because of this glass bowl we dwell in with your presidency.”
He turned to face her.
“Betty, this is our life. You married me when I was vice president. You knew what was coming eventually. Now it’s here and you don’t like it anymore.”.
“I thought you’d be faithful. I didn’t think I would have to deal with that issue under scrutiny.”
“I have been faithful except for the Caroline incident when I was as drunk as a road lizard. There have been no more slip ups, Betty. I promise you that.”
“And the note in the pocket of your jacket from the chorus girl plus your paw all over that damn Dina’s tit. Not that much to worry about, huh? Where there is smoke, there’s fire and you are always surrounded by thick black clouds of smoke, Shane Simba. I think I almost hate you.”
She jumped from the couch hastening past him and running to their room. She slammed the door resoundingly behind her. He opened it and rushed in the room, taking her by the shoulders. She pummeled his chest.
“Get away from me,” she cried. “You have hurt me. I can’t get past that,” she cried.
“Betty, what nonsense – just because of that girl I slightly fancied but did nothing with.”
His claws were gripping her shoulders.
“I told you that I wanted you at any price but I don’t think I can do that.. You’re not going to damn disgrace me and make a cuckold of me as you did Catherine.”
At that, he slapped her face hard, drawing blood on her cheek. She kicked him and beat his chest with her small hands. He picked her up and threw her on their bed. He got on top of her. She took her leg and kneed him in the groin. He roared in pain. The battle was on. It brought Staci and Sean to hover outside their door with a mixture of amusement and fear. Shane’s light eyes were ablaze with fury and pain. He picked her off the floor and held her at eye level. She glared back with as much intensity as she could amass. She thought to spit on him but decided in a split second that it was an undignified thing to do. He lowered her to the floor.
“Fuck you,” he said, turning away.
She pulled him by his new Armani sweater. A rip was heard. “Oh no you don’t, you damn son of a bitch. You are going to face me.”
He picked her from the floor like so much light fluff and this time pushed her against the wall with great force. Suddenly he was kissing her, his paws all over her.
“Oh no, you’re not going to make me lose my sense of purpose in a major screw,” she said, pushing him away.
“Try me, if you think you can win,” he roared, throwing her once again on the bed and tearing her clothes from her.
She could never resist him for very long. She gave in and they made love for hours. At last, when both were panting, exhausted and glistening with perspiration, he lay to one side, one paw stroking her hair.
“Fifi, in Tanzania where the chimps are, have they ever put one in the ring with a lion?” he chuckled.
“I don’t think so, darling.”
“If they ever do, my money will be on the chimp.”
-
Staci Simba was as cool as Baked Alaska as her father sat to the breakfast table with her. Betty and Sean weren’t down yet so it was just father and daughter.
“What’s going on in your day, Staci? Want a game of tennis at the club?” he asked, as it was a Saturday.
“No, Sir, I am busy,” she said, effecting a prim and disapproving expression as she placed her napkin daintily in her lap.
Shane looked up from his newspaper.
“Anything wrong?” he asked.
“You are making Betty’s life miserable with your fornicating.”
Shane stifled a surprised laugh. “What the hell are you talking about, Staci”
“You are after a woman named Dina. It is so wrong of you, Daddy. Sean and I stand with Betty.”
“Where in the world did you get your information? This is ridiculous.”
“We were outside the door last night, Daddy.”
“I am not going with any woman ever. .In addition, you have no business eavesdropping. You and Sean mind your own business and stay out of ours. We’re adults.”
“Then you should act like one, Daddy,” announced Staci, hastily getting up from the table, aware that she had pushed her luck to the breaking point.
She skipped from the room, grabbing her tennis racquet as she went out.
Sloane Simba was a recent member of the Masai Mara Sporting Club. He enjoyed golf and tennis as well as racket ball. In his new position as the head of Simba Brothers law firm he felt it prudent to join and entertain potential clients in addition to him. He was engaging his new law associate, Dina Myers, in a game of tennis when Shane arrived on the courts. He was looking for Staci but spotted Sloane and Dina. They stopped their game at the sight of the president and his Masai guards. Sloane noticed Shane’s sensual once over of Dina’s lovely pulchritude.
“Who’s winning?” asked Shane, whose pale green eyes burned into Dina.
“We’re about to quit. She’s all but won,” said Sloane, looking around for Caroline Cheetah who was supposed to join him.
“Do you play, Mr. President?” asked Dina.
Shane held up his racket in answer. “Want to play with me?”
Sloane swiveled around at the obvious double entendre in Shane’s question and manner.
“Let’s do it,” answered Dina, running a pink tongue across red lips.
They went to the court and began the game, Shane serving the first ball. Caroline arrived and watched the set with Sloane. The two played as if the court was a bed and they were having a fine sexual caper. Shane was an outstanding player but Dina was no fluff ball of an opponent. She played strongly and with determination, a microcosm of how she managed her career and life. They played until perspiration drenched them in the hot African sun.
Caroline lit a cigarette and made an acute observation. “They are having sex, not playing tennis. If I didn’t detest her so, I could almost pity Betty.”
“I think you’ve nailed it, Caroline. I believe the prez has the hots for Dina.”
At last the game came to an end with Shane the victor by only a small margin. Dina walked around the net and shook Shane’s paw. They stood talking briefly. Sloane and Caroline couldn’t hear what was said but they each went their own way. Caroline held her head back and laughed.
“Mr. President had a boner,” she observed.
“You would notice. Come on, let’s get some lunch.”
Dina and Shane on the tennis courts at the sporting club.....
Betty’s fears gnawed at her day and night. She had a gut feeling that Shane wasn’t going to conclude his attraction to Dina Myers short of fulfillment. She went in the official Rolls, accompanied by the guards and paid an official visit to the Lawrence Leoparde Mental Health Center in-patient wing, pressing the flesh and spreading cheer to the emotionally wounded. Her real reason for the good will visit was to see Lachlan in his office. Once there, she lit a cigarette and told Lachlan of her fears that refused to be put to rest. Lachlan sighed and pressed his paw to his forehead.
“Betty, how long have you known this guy that you married? It seems like forever. You will have to accept the way he is or leave him. I have repeated these words to you so many times I’m beginning to feel like a recorder.”
“I know I’ve said I wanted him warts and all. Moreover, I do. Nevertheless, it hurts so terribly to know that he even wants this bitch. I am in a state of bereavement. He admitted to me that he was attracted to her.”
“I counseled Catherine Simba, remember? I don’t think he was ever up front with her, Betty, so that’s something. He seems to be with you.”
“He tells me I don’t understand males. He can be attracted to this Dina and not sleep with her or love me less.”
“He probably can. This is a chap that’s accustomed to dissimulating on many levels.”
“I just have a gut feeling about this, Lachlan.”
“Betty, you have always known what your husband is like. So saying he screws her, what’s your real loss? He’ll return to you if you don’t make his life miserable about it. You married a player knowing full well he was that. My best advice is to live with it.”
“I had a fight with him the other night about her,” she said, sadly, lighting her third cigarette off of her second.
“Don’t drive him to her, Betty. Just try to maintain your cool.”
“May I have more pills, Lachlan? I’ve used all my Valium.”
“No, Betty, with the stress you’re undergoing, you’ll get hooked. Valium creates a terrible addiction and I’m not going to push them to you just because you’re the president’s wife.”
Sloane Simba moved into his new house with all kinds of help from Chloe Cougar and Caroline Cheetah. Chloe helped by bringing Bloody Mary makings, screwing him and passing out on his bed. Caroline’s was of a more useful nature. She shopped with him for stylish additions to his already wonderful décor created by CHANGING SPOTS. Caroline was a very tasteful female. She would bring carry out from the Watering Hole Pub, transport little Shane, Jr. and join in an eating and decorating session. Naturally, they would end the evening with a marvelous gallop in his new bed. He picked up his daughter, Georgy, one weekend and invited Caroline and her son to join them.
On a gloomy and very rainy morning in the Mara, Lachlan called Dr. Cary Caracal into his office. She was filled with apprehension and as high as the proverbial kite on crack smoked in Sidney Simba’s room.
“Where are you getting the drugs, Cary?” asked Lachlan with a depth of coldness, in his normally warm eyes, that few ever saw.
“I’m not on drugs, Lachlan,” she lied and not very well. Her panicky manner told the story.
“Don’t bullshit me, Cary. I gave you a chance and you fucked up. Sidney Simba is being kicked out today. He tested positive for drugs. The staff has seen you go to his room a great deal. You want to come clean?”
“He has the drugs. He gets them from some dealer that manages to get through. I smoked some crack with him.”
“Cary, I can’t give you another chance. I am firing you but wishing you the best and hoping that you get help. You are a gifted psychiatrist but useless on drugs.”
That evening, at my home, Lachlan cried for the first time since I’ve known him.
“Maurice, I had to fire Cary Caracal today. She was smoking crack with Sidney Simba in his room. I fear for her future. She is a sad creature and very vulnerable.”
I took him in my arms and tried to soothe his grief.
“You only did what you had to do, Lachlan. It is a hard task to be in charge of something as problematical as a hospital for the emotionally disturbed.”
“You’re damn right it is. I feel like some fun. You feel like going to Montecore’s tonight?”
“Yes, I do, Lachlan. That’s a wonderful idea.”
Cameron Caracal answered the door to her Salt Lick condo to find her very stricken sister standing there.
“Can I come and live with you for awhile, Cammy?” requested Cary.
“Sure but no drugs, Cary,” instructed her sister.
“I promise,” she said ,entering and taking her small suitcase to the guestroom.