Maurice & Friends

Ashley and Staci's new bush home........

I suppose unique couples deserve glorious conditions surrounding their weddings. It certainly seemed that way the day Leah Simba married Jack Tarzan at the home of Ashley and Staci (Simba) Lyon. Leah and Jack are a duo of animals that have always meant well and acted accordingly. Two huge tents were set up on the grounds of Ashley and Staci’s home in the bush. Betty Chimpo had received an invitation from several quarters, including her ex-husband Jack Tarzan. Leah had also called to ask Betty as had her second ex-husband, Ashley Lyon. So Betty was well invited.

The day was absolutely flawless as we pulled onto the private drive in the early afternoon. Our car was parked by a valet. Lachlan and I had invited Betty to go with us. Ashley was on the lawn in his ebullient fashion holding his new daughter, Cathy. He greeted us, directing us toward one of the many bars set up for the wedding party. We said hello to Jack and Leah as they stood holding hands and chatting with some guests. Betty gave Shane Simba a kiss on the cheek. He seemed almost giddy at the possible solution to Kenya’s political problems and ensuing violence. He was conversing with Sam and several pride members with a very strong Scotch in hand. Four of Betty’s past husbands were present at this affair, one being the groom. I marveled at her sense of peace and tranquility as she greeted each in turn. Little did I know that the reason for this newfound serenity was perusing books in Ashley’s library.

Dickey Simba checks the books in Ashley's library....

A Rolls Royce pulled up letting out the parents of the bride. Roy Lee Simba, his jovial best, went about greeting with his arm around Janice. Later just before the actual ceremony, Sean Simba arrived with Dina Myers at his side. His father looked disgusted. Georgy Simba looked shocked. Another latecomer was Imani Lyon with Tanzanian President Pete Levin. Ashley paid no heed to his daughter’s choice of date, merely greeted them warmly. It seemed the entire Simba pride had been invited.

Alexandra and Shane with son, Sacha Sean Simba arrives with Dina Myers......

The actual ceremony was lovely and fitting. Roy Lee stood with Jack, in lieu of a male relative of his own. Janice stood with her daughter, Leah. Afterward, Jack and Leah cut the elaborate and beautiful wedding cake, while Duke, the lion designer, flitted about making last minute rearrangements of the champagne flutes.

the bride, Leah Simba....

The band struck a chord and Leah took Jack Tarzan’s hand and led him to the dance floor. I gave a quick glance at Betty to see if there were any regrets in her very recently divorced husband seeming so deliriously happy with his new bride. She looked as pleased as the rest of us. I felt a hand on my shoulder.

“Maury, how goes it?” asked Dickey Simba whom I work with each day at the State House.

I like the minister of justice very much. We have endured many weeks of Kenya’s crisis working together during long grueling hours. However, I was not the real focus of his attentions.

“Professor Chimpo, will you give me the honor of this dance?”

She took his proffered hand. Lachlan and I looked at each. He gave a slight nod. We knew now the source of Betty’s recent happiness and quietude.

Around 1:00 am, long after the bride and groom had departed for their honeymoon to parts unknown to us, Ashley and Staci bid goodbye to their last guest. Betty thanked Lachlan and me for bringing her but was going out the door with Dickey Simba when we last saw her. It had been a grand wedding and party for a wonderfully popular couple.

Dina Myers had returned to her attorney slot in Lyon Law Firm. She had been divorced from Steven Simba for ages and he now had their son as well as his offspring, Carly Simba, from his union with Caitlin Cougar. Dina’s personal life had been on the backburner until she ran into Sean Simba in the pub. Sean was the spitting image of his dad, Shane, whom Dina had been madly in love with at one time. Happy to get a physical, if not an intellectual, twin to Shane, she dove with gusto into a relationship with the young sports star. Before one could blink, Sean had moved into Dina’s apartment, despite the home he shared with his cousin, Troy. They were a sizzling twosome - a hot woman and her big cat toy boy.

Sean moves in with Dina Myers.....

Although wedding bells had rung for Jack Tarzan and Leah Simba, it seemed no other couples were inclined at the moment. More often than not live-in lovers, Sloane Simba and Lucy Cougar, had attended the elegant nuptials but didn’t get bitten by the bug. They were settled into a comfortable existence, testing the waters of their compatibility.

the delectable Simone Serval.....

Simone Serval was bent out of shape. She rang the buzzer in Dickey Simba’s building. He allowed her entrance but gave her a rather nonchalant reception when she reached his apartment. The scent and residue of hashish hung in the air.

“May I have a smoke?” asked Simone, her cat eyes aflame with indignation.

The pretty feline actress simply detested a lack of adulation on anyone’s part. Years of fame had ripped her humility to shreds. Dickey handed her the bong.

“Be my guest, Simone. I’ll get you a drink.”

When he returned with her booze of choice she was standing in the middle of the floor as naked as a sea goddess.

“Is your latest film role a stripper or what?” he asked in rather laconic fashion.

“I got nude so we could make love,” she hissed.

“Is that what we do?” asked Dickey, lighting a regular cigarette and looking her up and down with insolent khaki eyes.

“Of course, what would you call it?”

“Consensual screwing!”

A Masai student, along with his friend, a Kikuyu lad, was among Betty’s favorite students. The programs and lectures Betty was presenting to her body of undergraduates, was thrilling to true intellectuals. There was a young lioness that also joined the ranks of the prepared and special. Betty was kicking ass in her classes with all students ranking her curriculum among the very best. With the rave reviews pouring into the office of the chancellor, he asked Betty to teach a graduate class in addition. She was delighted.

I lunch with Bertram at OKAPI'S....

Bertram Baboon was feeling petulant as we sat in OKAPI’S. A loud ring sounded as he tapped a crystal goblet with a spoon, causing heads to swivel. The waiter walked our way which was Bertram’s intent.

“This wine is ghastly,” announced the baboon director. “It is certainly not the same caliber as your others.”

“Mr. Baboon,” quaked the waiter, an elk species. “We are not getting our regular supplies from South Africa with the crisis in Kenya. The local wines are all we have at the moment.”

“Dear God, we are drinking local wine?” he asked, putting a hand to his breast in the ultimate dramatic gesture.

“Bertram, we are in the middle of constant chaos at the moment. Many airlines won’t land here,” I explained.

“I am moving to another country,” he announced in a loud voice for all to hear. “I will move to France.”

He looked at those around us who had gone back to eating and drinking, not terribly disturbed at our famed film maker’s juvenile declaration of emigration.

“Bertram, try to be a bit patriotic. Kenya is in deep distress at the moment,” I almost shrieked.

I suppose he saw the fierce look in my eyes for he changed the subject.

“The pâté, on the other hand, is the best,” he declared placidly as if his mini shit fit had never occurred.

Jack Tarzan and his bride, Leah (Simba) Tarzan, honeymooned in the Seychelles before returning to the Masai Mara. All media agencies were pressed for reporters to cover Kenya’s riots which had commenced. Jack reported to the Masai Mara Daily and Leah returned to JAGGERS. The spring fashion season is a huge factor at the fashion emporium created by her mother. She found her partner, Duke, in froth at having been left even for something as important as a honeymoon.

Duke, Leah's partner at JAGGERS

President Shane Simba and justice minister, Dickey Simba, went to Nairobi to work once more with parliament. Kenya’s problems were a matter of one tribe having elected more parliamentary members that the other. The two lions worked meticulously with the Luo and the Kikuyu to iron out the problems that were ripping Kenya and its economy apart.

Dickey Simba was at the smaller airport in Nairobi when Betty taxied her Cessna to the hangar.

“Where are we staying?” she asked, leaning up to give him a kiss on the cheek.

“The Safari Park Hotel – it’s further from the fray.”

The Safari Park Hotel outside Nairobi....

Chalk up, if not a cure, at least a new beginning to my favorite animal, Dr. Lachlan Lion. After Laura Leo was brought in following her breakdown after her father, William’s death, Lachlan took her case. The Leos are an intellectual lion pride. When the Simbas and Lyons were bringing down kills on the savanna, the Leos were reading Shakespeare at the watering hole with picnic baskets filled with good wines and cuisine imported from France. They are all highly educated (I am referring to post graduate degrees for all pride members, even the lionesses) including the problematical Laura. Laura liked Lachlan. They had a meeting of the minds. He suggested that she seek a teaching post at the new Kenya University campus in the Mara. He went one step further as he had seeking employment for the late Catherine Cheetah Simba. He called Chancellor Terry Simba and asked him to employ the highly educated Laura. As I had with the late Catherine, Terry agreed to employ Laura as an assistant professor of literature. Of course, probationary restrictions were to be in place, but nonetheless, this was a break for the troubled lioness.

Sean Simba and his new squeeze, Dina Myers, hit the social circuit in a big way. They could afford to since the limelight was not on the President’s son but on Kenya and Shane Simba. Sean took up residence in Dina’s apartment which happened to be in the same building with Dickey Simba and Lion Lion’s respective flats. Troy Simba didn’t mind the desertion of his cousin. Troy, a more centered youth, enjoyed the ease and comparative neatness of life minus the unruly Sean. However, Dina’s kitchen was always in disarray from Sean’s midnight food raids. Her neatly pillowed couch was tossed hither and thither from flop downs. There was usually a trail of clothing through each room as Sean felt the need to disrobe. Dina, dizzy from the thrusts of a new and youngish lion lover, was not feeling the heat of anything but passion. She ignored the toss and tumble effect in her usually tidy home.

Dina lives with the messy Sean......

This is the week that Imani Janice Lyon was seen nude on the cover of ANIMAL GLAMOUR magazine. Her mother managed to live with the fact. Her dad, Ashley, had another take on the matter: “Imani looks rather hot, don’t you think, Staci?”

Imani sat back and hoped it would evoke a proposal of marriage from Pete Levin in Tanzania. It’s not that she fancied Pete all that much but the thought of becoming first lady of Tanzania appealed to her.