"Bob, I really hate to leave you. We work so well together and I so like you. We’ve been friends for as long as I can remember."

Betty was sitting in the office of Bob Bushbuck. She was the head of his news department at the Masai Mara Daily.

"Betty, this is too good an opportunity for you to pass up. It’s a Katy Couric moment for you. You are beautiful and brilliant as a reporter. Just promise me that you will do special stories for the Daily on occasion."

"You’ve got it, Bob. And thanks for everything you have always done for me."

"Remember, if things don’t work out at the television station you can always come back to us."

    Betty spent a few days of seclusion in the Exotic Animal Clinic where cosmetic surgeon, Dr. Todd Tigeres, did a few pertinent nips and tucks on her already lovely face. Her next step was to go to Paulette Poodle’s Beau Visage and ask her for a stunning look.

"You are already have that, Betts. Just keep your hair long and we can do different things with it," advised Paulette.

Shane Simba stood in the door of Betty’s freshly refurbished, upscale office at WMM-TV. She had set up an on camera live interview with him for her first plum coup as television news anchor.

"Wow! You look wonderful. You’ll put Cass in the shade," he said, taking a seat in front of her desk so they could go over the material for the interview.

"I might say the same for you. New threads?"

"I took a side trip to some of Manhattan’s trendiest clothiers while I was there. Like this suit?"

"I surely do and what’s in it as well," she smiled.

"Betty, Ralph is having a huge government bash at the Predator Club. Will you be my date? I have to warn you that Sam will be there since he took my place as justice minister."

"Do you mind if he sees us together, Shane?"

"Hell no. It’s his business no longer."

"I’d be honored to be your date."

She had not seen him since his return to the Mara from the Americas junket. The interview went well. Her first night as anchor was a smashing success.

Bernard Cougar called his daughter, Sylly Cougar Lyon, from the boat which was shored in Mombasa again.

"Sylly, I want you to fish with me. You love it as much as I do. Mom and I want to know if you, Junior and the kids can join us this weekend in Mombasa for some fishing?"

"Poppy, I’ll check with Junior but I know I can join you."

"Great, Honey! See you in Mombasa."

The paparazzi were in a state of frenzied jubilation as the rear door of Shane’s Mercedes was opened by his Masai driver, revealing Shane with Betty Chimpo. They were a stunning couple and their history was of the stuff to thrill any news hound or photographer. This was the first time the widowed Vice President had been seen publicly in any female’s company since his wife’s death. And now here he was with his former sister-in-law who had written a tell all book about his affair with her. Flash bulbs popped on cameras all the way to the entrance of the main room in the Predator Club where the banquet was being held for government officials and key members of the media. The Masai Honor Guard stopped them at this point. I was standing with Ralph and Mildred when Shane and Betty entered the room. Collective breaths were held as the two made their way to the President and First Lioness. They looked magnificent. That is the only way to describe them as a couple. I had always thought that Shane and Catherine looked marvelous together but he and Betty had an extra gloss to them. Possibly this was a result of the hullabaloo that had surrounded the disclosure of their torrid affair in her book. I had brought Lachlan and he seemed quite stunned at the sheer physical beauty of the two. They danced together in a dream like fashion. Sam Simba came with Caroline Cheetah for reasons known only to themselves. I noticed that Sam avoided his brother and ex-wife during the evening. Caroline cut in on Shane and Betty but he declined to accept a change of partners.

Betty and Shane at the banquet....

    The gloves were off for the paparazzi who had honored Shane Simba’s need for personal space and privacy in his grief over the death of Catherine. Now, they were rabid for photos of Betty and Shane, camping outside of Betty’s home on Leoparde Drive hoping to catch a glimpse of the couple should they get together again.

As it turned out, both Sylly and Junior Lyon were able to join her parents for a fishing excursion on their boat in Mombasa. Their children were caught up in weekend activities of their own and didn’t go. Junior was sitting in the main salon in the boat, enjoying Bloody Marys with Sylvia. Sylly was on deck with Bernard.

"Poppy, I think Lucy’s marriage may be in trouble," said Sylly to her father.

"Oh Lord. Don’t tell me," groaned Bernard.

"She and Alex really seem tense with each other. Lucy has been so focused on getting pregnant again and that is really hard on a marriage. She’s in the Clinic now. Frank Tigeres is subbing for me this weekend. We are trying to figure out a way to keep this pregnancy in tact."

    The great thing about his retirement was that it gave Bernard more time to focus on his children as well. He had been needed many a time when he was tied up in vice presidential duties. On Monday morning, Bernard and Sylvia returned to the Masai Mara. Lucy needed them.

Christine Cheetah was looking at the picture that adorned the front page of The Masai Mara Daily. It was Betty Chimpo and Shane Simba at a government bash.

"Shit," she muttered to herself.

She rose from bed and quickly dressed. Kissing her cubs on their heads she rushed to see her neighbor and get the goods on what was transpiring behind that utterly divine photograph. Betty was home as it was Saturday morning. She brought a pitcher of martinis to her patio.

"Betty, are you seeing Shane?"

"Not really, Christine. We attended the government banquet together. Why?"

"Oh, c’mon, Betty. You know damn well you’re seeing him."

"You love him too, don’t you, Christine?" asked Betty who had just realized this must be so.

"I told you I had an affair with him and Catherine caught us in bed together. It was awful. Then I married his brother on the damn rebound."

"I don’t see him very often, Christine. He’s so tied up with work and his children these days."

"Have you slept with him since Catherine died?"

"I'd rather not say."

"Damn!" said her friend and held out her glass for another martini. Betty filled it to the rim.

Caroline Cheetah saw Shane Simba again at the sporting club. He had just come in the bar from a golf game with the first couple. She was standing there, just having finished a set of tennis with Lewis Lyon.

"Hello again, Shane."

"Hi Caroline. Been playing tennis?"

"Yeah, with Lewis."

"He’s a good player."

"So am I. I also look exactly like Catherine. I even have her old job. Why don’t you pay attention to me?"

"Because you’re not Catherine."

"I am the same physically. I am just not as fucked up as she was. I have none of her violent insanity. You’d find me infinitely more charming if you’d give me shot at you."

"Goddamn you! Don’t you ever come near me and say those things about my wife again. I want no part of you."’

She felt he would have hit her if he wasn’t such a public figure. His khaki eyes were filled with rage.

"Wow! I’ll bet when you get mad you’re even better in bed," she purred, lighting a cigarette.

"Fuck you and the broom you soared in on."

  He signed the bar chit and stalked out.

Caroline made the mistake of telling Alexander Simba of the conversation with his half-brother, Shane, at the sporting club. They were standing in her kitchen, having just made drinks. Upon hearing the story, he slammed his drink on the counter, put out his cigarette and said:

"Christ! Don’t tell me you have Shane-itis too!"

He turned abruptly and left the apartment, slamming her entrance door after him.

Dr. Frank Tigeres, in conjunction with doctors, Sylly Cougar Lyon and Ted Tigeres, decided the best way to keep Lucy Cougar Simba from miscarrying was to suture the mouth of her uterus until time for delivery.  It had been done before on humans successfully.  The three did the surgery. Lucy recuperated nicely and was sent home with her husband to engage in only the lightest of chores and limited time spent at her job as reporter. There was also to be no conjugal activity until further into the pregnancy, if then.

"How diabolical of you to bring my ex-wife to such a high profile affair, Shane."

Sam was facing his brother in his office in the State House.

"What of it, Sam? She’s not your wife anymore and I’m widowed. What’s to be said?"

"It’s tacky, Shane. We are already the laughing stock of the Mara because of her damn book. She described every blow job she gave you in it," roared Sam.

"Speak for yourself, Sam. I’m not a laughing stock. Any male who is the recipient of multiple blow jobs is only envied and admired."

"Fuck you, Shane. You’re the same whore you always were. Catherine’s death hasn’t changed you at all."

Shane stood abruptly, scattering papers from his desk.

"Do not refer to my wife or her death. My wife’s name is never to fall in a flippant fashion from anyone’s lips. Not within my hearing at any rate."

"Don’t think you’re going to trick me again and let that bitch see my sons. I know you did it once but never again."

"No matter what you feel about someone, it is obscene to keep a mother from her children unless she’s harmed them in some way. Betty was a good mother and you damn well know it."

"I can see the way this is heading, Shane. Good luck, buddy. You’ll sure as hell need it."

Sam left to go to his own office.

The paparazzi departed from in front of Betty’s home when Shane Simba didn’t show up there for the next two weeks. They sought more fertile ground to cover.