Maurice & Friends

Chloe Cougar moved from her girlhood room. There was a penthouse opposite Shane Simba’s in Lyon Towers that happened to be empty. Chloe, as luck would have it, was able to purchase it. She moved in and glamorized the place. With access to her mother’s design studio, she furnished it with the best. She prepared rooms for her children although they preferred to stay with Roy Lee most of the time. They simply adored Janice. Chloe had them enough to satisfy her not too demanding maternal instincts. Lee would be going to school in Nairobi in a short while and Troy was on the junior soccer team. The younger cubs, Lucretia and Tarek, had begun to absolutely idolize their step mother, Janice Jaguar Simba. Chloe made arrangements with Christine Cheetah Mbube to go over plays with an eye to making her first stage appearance. Her dear gay leopard actors were glad to see her back. Bernard Cougar, when prodded in the ribs by a winking Sylvia, would make fatherly and loving noises whenever Chloe graced their home. But Chloe and her dad knew their turf. She loved him as he did her but the playing fields were tenuous between them. Chloe, being a not too deep sort, was for the most part happy. She loved cigarettes, Bloody Marys and male pulchritude – not necessarily in that order. She had money to burn, great looks and a tilted zest for life. Things didn’t go very hard with Chloe Cougar Simba Mountain Lion. After she had fallen in love with Ashley Lyon as a teenager and been spurned, she had taken life by the bit and had run with it. She often got plastered and when there was no entertainment present, she would phone Roy Lee in the middle of the night. Janice, being one of the world’s most compassionate beings, didn’t mind her husband taking some time to soothe his ex-wife. Knowing where the loot was buried, she began to pay visits to her great grandmother, Lucretia Leoparde. Chloe was of a mind that one couldn’t be too rich or own too many blood red lipsticks. Lucretia would practice tolerance when she arrived but see through her with naked green eyes borne of age. The one thing Chloe neglected to address, out of a natal arrogance, was her husband, Charles Mountain Lion. With Chloe, things could be easily assigned to ‘out of sight’ and ‘out of mind’.

Sloane Simba, being a natural born lounge lizard, soon took notice of Chloe’s sumptuous digs. He was quite fond of her body. As for Chloe’s lack of intellect, Caroline Cheetah filled that bill. Caroline was also as sexy an animal as one could cop for a bed mate. It seemed a win-win situation for Sloane and Chloe. But as everything else invading that twosome’s lives, things could be illusive.

“Leely, Lewis (Lyon) has bought a marvelous new yacht. He wants us to use it sometimes. I want to take you on the best vacation ever.”

This idea was presented to his wife, Leah, by Ashley Lyon. They were in bed, under linen sheets, just having made love many times. She nipped his nose in play.

“Ash, my whole life is a terrific vacation.”

“I think that may be the single most wonderful thing a wife has ever told her husband.”

“I hope so. I mean every word of it, Ash.”

She did take a week off from her mayoral duties and they accepted Lewis’ invitation.

Ashley and Leah Lyon on vacation.....

A lion’s roar can be heard from a distance of eight miles in the open bush and will rattle the ceilings in the confines of their home. Shane Simba emitted one at the sight of a very sexy picture of his daughter, Staci, in the Masai Mara Magazine.

“Betty, get Staci down here this very minute,” he demanded.

“Darling, she’s bathing. She’s attending a party at Delilah Dik Dik’s this evening.”

“I want to see her pronto,” he huffed, handing his wife the slick little magazine put out by the Masai Mara’s mayoral offices.

“Shane, you’ve become very peremptory since you took office.”

He faced her down. “What? Meaning?”

“I just want to nip this conduct in the bud, darling. You are becoming rather demanding.”

“Nip what in the bud, Betty? Are you suddenly my mother or something?”

This unfortunate exchange was ended when Staci Simba came running in the room wearing a party dress.

“Do you want to explain this picture, Staci?” asked her irate father.

“I just posed for that at the sporting club the other day. A friend of mine took it, Daddy. I didn’t know it was going to end up in a magazine.”

“What’s with the sexy outfit?”

“Daddy, it’s just a bathing suit and cover up. It’s not very sexy,” lamented Staci. “We were just pissing around.”

“Pissing around, did you say? I’ve never heard you use that expression before.”

“Daddy, you’re getting like Uncle Sam.”

That stopped Shane in his very tracks. In no way did he want to be equated with his stuffy

litter mate.

Betty went to their room and read before a fire and Staci left for her party. Shane later joined his wife.

“I’m sorry I snapped on you like that, Fifi. I was just worried about Staci and hoping she doesn’t get wild on me.”

“Shane, Staci is a wonderful young female. She is loving, caring of her family, studious and beautifully behaved. What more can you want of a teenager?”

He sat down heavily, drink in paw.

“I just don’t want her to be like her mother, Fifi.”

“Catherine was a very brilliant animal. I know she had emotional problems but many do.”

“Cathy had much more than just emotional problems, Betty. She had something missing entirely. She had a cruelty to her that was almost immeasurable and a sexual drive and perversion of disturbing proportions.”

“Don’t place that mantel on Staci, Shane. She’s none of those things. She has the loving personality of her grandmother, Cynthia Cheetah. .You are looking for something that doesn’t exist.”

“What would I do without you to keep me straight?” he laughed and held her close.

“I really don’t know, darling,” she chuckled.

At breakfast the next morning, Shane apologized to his daughter for overreacting to her photograph.

“Do you really think I’m like Uncle Sam?” asked a worried papa lion.

“No, Daddy, I just knew that would get your goat,” she giggled.

The upsetting picture of Staci Simba....

Sloane Simba was in Chloe’s luxurious bed in her penthouse apartment in Lyon Towers. He had just made love to her multiple times and was itching to get to Caroline Cheetah’s for some intellectual input. Chloe had been bending his ear with inanities for an entire afternoon and evening. She chattered on, disregarding her lover’s sighs of apparent boredom.

“Do you like Janice Jaguar?” she asked.

“I don’t really know her all that well. She seems nice. I remember seeing her when Roy Lee was married to her the first time. I was just a tot then,” he said, yawning.

“I really hate her,” snarled Chloe, chewing on a split claw.

“Why? Because she remarried Roy Lee?”

“She also took my very first love from me, Sloane.”

“And who would that be?” he asked, checking his watch for the fitting time to make his exit.

“Ashley Lyon when he first came back from England. I was a kid and fell madly in love with him. He preferred Janice. He lived with her for awhile.”

“You were in love with the big Ash?” laughed Sloane.

“Yes, I was. He broke my heart. Then I didn’t love anyone until Roy Lee.”

“I hate to end this recitation of your past loves, Chloe, but I’ve got some law cases to study,” lied Sloane, most admirably.

Caitlin Cougar bustled around preparing things for the baby sitter. Steven Simba was taking her to dinner. She nursed Georgy, burped her, placing her in the crib in the den. The sitter arrived at almost the same time as Steven.

OKAPI’S was filled with elegant dining animals and people when Steven and Caitlin arrived. The host led them to a table and took their drink orders.

“Do you want your usual vodka, Caitlin?” inquired Steven.

“No, I think I had best have wine. I have something to tell you later.”

The waiter returned with their drinks and pâté with a croustade containing toast squares

“What did you have to tell me, Caitlin?”

“I’m pregnant again – it’s yours.”

“Oh, my God,” gasped Steven. “This is unexpected.”

“You don’t have to marry me, Steve. In fact I think it would ruin our relationship if you did.”

“Caitlin, of course I’ll do the right thing.”

“No, I love children, the more the better for me. Let’s hold off on marriage. I don’t want to mess up what we have,” she said, placing her paw on his.

“Caitlin, do you want to have an illegitimate pregnancy? You live next door to your aunt and uncle and seem to be very family oriented.”

“I want to break out of the standard molds, Steve. I had a terrible experience with Sloane.”

“That doesn’t mean you’ll have one with me. I happen to love you.”

“I love you too, Steve. That’s why I want us to wait a bit and make sure of each other.”

Sloane rang the bell of Caroline’s apartment, also in Lyon Towers. It had been a short trip in the elevator. She let him in. He followed her to the main living area where a contented Luke Leoparde lounged on a comfortable chair with a drink in paw. After a few minutes of desultory chit chat for the sake of civility, Luke stood up to go. Sloane went to the liquor cabinet and poured a strong Scotch.

“I thought he went with that lioness reporter. I’ve seen them in the pub together.”

“He’s seeing others now. Her parents will only approve her marrying a lion. Luke says her pride is awful – very primitive and all were nude,” giggled Caroline.

“That could be interesting – a nude pride in this day and age. And among those he is ‘seeing’ do you happen to be one?”

She came close and put a silken paw in his shirt with the buttons loosed to mid chest. She ran her claws softly against his skin.

“I have a strong feeling I need to find other suitors. I know instinctively that you’re seeing someone else,” she purred.

“You have lousy instincts, Caroline,” he told her, opening her blouse and taking hold of a breast.

“I don’t think so, Sloane. I believe them to be right on target,” she purred, putting the other paw down his pants.

“This is getting us everywhere,” he breathed into her neck, picking her up and carrying her to her room where her son lay sleeping in his crib.

Sloane in Caroline's bed with her son climbing about him.....

Gerald Giraffe lay on the floor in Montecore’s Disco. He and his white tiger lover were watching a DVD of the Bobby Darren story, Beyond the Sea, in the luxurious living quarters above. Gerald was sobbing loudly at the rendition of the song, Once Upon A Time. It was a two hankie affair for the emotional and dramatic Gerald.

“Who does this song make you think of Monte?” asked Gerald, expectantly blinking thickly lashed eyes.

“Betty,” was the tiger’s answer.

“Oh certainly you don’t still long for her,” moaned Gerald, who was three sheets to the wind.

“I see her often with Shane Simba. They are so in the news since his presidency,” slurred Montecore, who was also quite wasted from drink.

“And let me tell you, there were no males for her after she got a taste of Shane,” chortled Gerald.

That should cool his jets, thought the giraffe, correctly.

Staci Simba attended Delilah Dik Dik’s party all right. It just happened to be in the safari tent of her aunt, Dodi Dik Dik Lyon which sat within the Lyon Pride Compound. Dodi and Kerri Klipspringer had closed the tent flaps tightly. Since Mildred Lyon was living in the compound it had been tricky to smoke marijuana. Mildred had a dog tracker’s nose for scenting the aroma of pot. She had given Dodi some very disparaging looks, smelling the marijuana on her clothes. Dodi and Kerri shared a joint with Delilah and the curious Staci. Staci got a fit of the giggles while Delilah gazed into space. Neither youngster took to the stuff. Staci had grown slightly paranoid and was fretful about returning to the State Mansion. Fortunately, Betty and Shane were in their room when she arrived. Only her kid brother, Sean, sniffed her clothes.

“What’s that weird shit smell?” he asked.

“It’s not shit, Sean. It’s some perfume I tried at Delilah’s.”

‘You shouldn’t use it anymore. It really stinks,” pronounced Sean, who was growing more obnoxious with age in Staci’s view.

Sarah Lee Simba was quite stressed these days. Her son, Stuart’s entire family, which included his five lionesses and their ten children, were living with her. She didn’t now which way to turn but being an uneducated lioness and quite unworldly, she chose her presidential son, Shane. It was the worst of choices. Shane’s plate was filled with the governing of his country. Of course when a mother calls any son, he takes it.

“Shane, I’m at my wit’s end. Stuart is still living in my house with his wives and children. Can you do something about it.”

Shane bit back, “I’m only dealing with an entire nation” and said instead. “Mom, we bought him land. He only has to build a house on it. I’m very busy these days.”

But he did take the time to call Stuart and asked him what was going on with his plans to build a home. He got the disconcerting news that Stuart wasn’t happy in the Mara and wanted to return to his adopted home in South Africa. Shane then sent for Sloane to come to his office.

“Sloane, you’re going to have to take over Simba Brothers and hire a new attorney or so. Steven is now in charge of Lyon & Associates since I ripped Daniel off for my vice president. Can and will you do this?” asked Shane lighting a cigarette and offering one to Sloane.

“Yes, but I want a pay raise if I’m going to hold the fort down. And why aren’t you asking Alexander? He’s the family guy.”

“Because Alex doesn’t have that ‘go for the jugular’ that I sense in you. Simba Brother’s needs that quality again and a considerable pay raise is yours.”

“Good, then we have a plan here,” stated Sloane, lighting his cigarette off of Shane’s proffered lighter.

“Also the land bought for Stuart by the pride will be a bonus,” added Shane.

“Good deal, Shane.”