Maurice & Friends

It’s terribly selfish of me to say we were all in shock and misery at the news of Jack Tarzan’s demise in the light of his widow’s very visible anguish. His body had not been found but after a week, it was decided he had probably been consumed by the crocodiles that inhabit Lake Tanganyika. That was a gruesome enough thought but the emotions overwhelming all of us who thought the world of Jack Tarzan were bloody awful. Of course, ours were nothing compared to those of his wife who had recently borne his two cubs. Lachlan and I spent every evening at Leah’s home which could hardly contain the continuing visits of pride members and friends who were totally supportive of Roy Lee and Janice (Jaguar) Simba’s very popular daughter. One of the most devoted in his helpfulness was her ex-husband, Ashley Lyon. The day after Jack’s memorial service, Leah returned to work and into the sympathetic machinations of her partner, lion designer Duke, who mothered the beautiful young widow like the proverbial hen. The rest of us had to return to our normal lives despite the fact that Jack had meant a great deal to a lot of animals. His first wife, Betty Chimpo, was stunned by the news of his death. She had been the one who first ‘discovered’ Jack on that lonely stretch of lake near Gombe in Tanzania when she was running from the dissolution of her marriage to Shane Simba. Another grief stricken friend was Jane Leoparde who had first known Jack in the school of journalism at Kenya University. I have seldom seen my Lachlan display such overt grief. Jack was our neighbor and Lachlan’s favorite fishing pal.

the late and presumed dead, Jack Tarzan on his boat in Lake Tanganyika...

There are always checks and balances to life. One creature’s grief is another’s chance at the superior existence. I say this because Rory, Lachlan’s brother, was given the job of counseling the sorrowful Leah Simba Tarzan. Her parents realized, along with others close to her, that the jaguar-lion mixed female would need help in dealing with her terrible grief.

When the door opened and Leah was shown into his office at the mental health center, Rory Lion’s heart convulsed and began to flutter frantically. If he hadn’t been youthful and robust he might have sought medical help. Rory thought he had never seen a lovelier female of any species prior to this. Sadness had not dimmed Leah’s allure. One might say sorrow only enhanced the loveliness of Leah Simba Tarzan. Where he had been brusque with several of his patients, including Betty Chimpo, he now was the soul of tenderness. Patient and psychiatrist knew that this healing process would take a long and circuitous route. Leah felt soothed at the doctor’s manner. He prescribed a mild tranquilizer and didn’t recommend a mood elevator. He saw in Leah an animal of exceptional strength and character. Rory made the decision not to over medicate. They set up tri-weekly appointments and Rory made it clear that he would be on call if needed. When he had seen her out, Rory knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was in love for the first time in his life.

Rory seeing Leah from his office after their first counseling session...

Ashley Lyon sat in the family room of the house he shared with his current wife, Staci Simba Lyon. He was deep in thought and not his usual gregarious self. Their cubs played around his feet, tiny Cathy Lyon jumping on her dad’s lap but Ashley only kissed the top of her head in an abstract manner. He had been deeply saddened by his ex-wife’s husband’s tragic end, having first known Jack as Betty’s pal in Tanzania. Now he struggled with a new and more disturbing emotion. He had been the adorable Leah’s first husband. Their marriage had fallen into unfixable disrepair at Ashley’s ongoing affair with Leah’s aunt, Tookie Simba. Ashley shifted position in his favorite easy chair, moaning slightly at distant and troubling memories. He had married four females, the first being Betty Chimpo, then Leah Simba followed by an abrupt union with Lucy Cougar. After that it was the high profile nuptials with the president’s daughter, Staci Simba. He didn’t have to ask himself the obvious question. Leah was the love of his life. He went to the kitchen where his wife, Staci was overseeing a project with the cook. He kissed her and left for his best friend and partner’s home. There he could speak his heart to Luke Leoparde and his wife Jane, the lioness.

Leah sailing with her husband, Ashley Lyon, before they divorced.....

Betty answered the door herself. She had given Babs the day off and was alone in the house. She had been busy grading essays when the doorbell rang on this late afternoon. She couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw Dickey Simba standing there in all of his casually adorned male lion beauty.

“Got a drink for me?” he asked sheepishly. .

“Of course I have,” she answered taking his hand and ushering him inside.

“I am so sorry about Jack Tarzan, Betty. That must have been terrible for you too,” he said, taking a seat on the comfortable couch in her library and accepting his first glass of white wine.

She lit a cigarette and brushed away sudden tears.

“Dickey, I did him so wrong; it was shameful of me.”

“Betty, I’ve heard the story of Jack and his retreat from Kenya until you brought new meaning into his life. Maybe you didn’t love him as you should have but still, you made great changes in his existence – for the better. He did several stories on my ministry and we talked at great length. He was a wonderful lion and always gave you credit for changing his life from one of nothingness to a newfound career and fatherhood.”

“I had an affair with Sean Simba and that’s what broke us up….but you’re right, Dickey, I never really adored him as I should have. He was a victim of my obsession with Shane.”

“One of many, I dare say,” he said, lighting a cigarette.

“You are not in that category, Dickey….let me assure of that. You are very different for me.”

He only looked at her with his golden eyes and emptied his wine glass, refilling it from the bottle on a lacquered tray.

“Do you want offspring?” It sprang from her lips like sudden summer rain.

He chuffed slightly and crossed a muscular leg across the other.

“Where did the hell did that come from, Betty? The answer is NEVER!”

“Isn’t that a bit different for a male lion?” she asked in an attempt to lighten the awkward question.

“Male lions aren’t great fathers, Betty. In days past all they wanted was to create a gene pool and protected the lionesses and young while they could do so. Lions are seldom dazzling dads.”

“Shane said he didn’t care about having cubs either, come to think of it,” mused Betty.

Dickey gave a deep chuckle.

“He should have stuck to that premise. My god, how many did you, alone, give him? Not to mention all the others.”

“Shane is a great father,” argued Betty.

“Yeah and hookers make great moms. Shane is a typical male lion; he produced children simply because he could.”

“You’re being cynical again, Dickey,” she laughed.

“I suppose I am. Why don’t I take you out to Lachlan’s restaurant to get a bite?”

She almost said yes, but turned him down, saying she had more papers to grade before the following day’s class. When he left, she was momentarily proud of herself for using extreme willpower since she always wanted to be with him. Later as she returned to her desk, she felt she had been foolish. She spent a restless night.

Dickey Simba whose failure to commit to anything, drives Betty bonkers...

“What can I say, Ash?” asked Luke Leoparde.

He was trying to soothe his guest, Ashley Lyon, and making a mess of it. Jane, his lioness wife, had retired to let the best friends talk. She had sensed Ashley’s distress.

“I realize I still love Leely, Luke.”

“I knew this shit would happen. Leah has always been the love of your life, Ash. I tried to warn you before you ruined it with that scarred up old sister of Shane Simba’s who looks like him in drag.”

“What do I do now, Luke?” asked Ashley, popping the cap on another beer.

“Well don’t hurt Staci, she doesn’t deserve it. Anyhow, Leah is grieving her recently deceased husband, Ash, so it’s a moot point.”

` Ashley Lyon was driving his oldest daughter Imani with several trunks filled with her personal possessions in the back of his SUV. Imani, taking pity on her grief stricken mother, had decided to take up her old childhood room in the house on Leoparde Drive for a time. .

“Dad, you look like death warmed over yourself, what’s going on?” remarked his acid daughter, lighting a cigarette.

“Nothing at all, Imani, I’m just sad that Leely has to undergo this pain,” he said rolling down the window to free the offending smoke. Ashley Lyon had never been an admirer of cigarettes or smokers.

“Dad, you still have the hots for Mom, I know. Why don’t you two get together again? You must have a severe set of blue balls thinking about her all alone in that upstairs bedroom,” giggled Imani.

“Shit, Imani, you have absolutely no couth at all. Mind your damn manners.”

The young model threw back her head in glee. She did simply adore her dashing dad. Moreover, she knew how to push his buttons most of the time.

Ashley and Leah's oldest daughter, Imani, takes pity on her bereaved mother...

Shane Simba had a visitor for the weekend. His guest was Inez, the Spanish beauty he had had met while in Malaga for the global warming summit. His wife, Alexandra, had repaired to her coffee plantation to resituate the horse that had thrown her in the trials. They had said their goodbyes and planned to meet again in the mansion on Sunday night for a quiet supper with Shane’s bereaved niece Leah and her parents, Roy Lee and Janice Simba. Alexandra was not the problem. There was one, however. While Inez had been Shane’s guest on a sailing excursion, Claire Cheetah had driven to Lamu Island and at the consternation of his staff, ensconced herself in the master bedroom. When Shane and Inez arrived back at his villa, they went to his bedroom to find Claire naked and with all the paraphernalia necessary to engage in heady sex of a sado-masochistic nature. Inez at first held shock on her beautiful human face but then decided to go with the flow. It is probably not necessary to relate to the readers that a threesome was in place with all parties enjoying themselves immensely.

Shane's Spanish friend shares a heady weekend with him (below) and an unexpected guest...

Duke the lion clothing designer was filled with consternation at the sad emotional shape his adored partner was in due to the untimely death of her husband, Jack Tarzan. Duke, being of good heart, coddled the distraught Leah as she worked overtime to ease her loss.

Duke remains supportive and soothing to his partner, Leah Simba Tarzan...

It was not a good time for Glenda Gorilla and her talented camera monkey to be on the loose and following Claire Cheetah’s trail to Lamu Island. Despite the security surrounding Shane Simba as Kenya’s lion president, his island home is not one that is tightly guarded. Deciding that this is the home that is surrounded by the Indian Ocean, security is more relaxed. This was a bad thing on this particular occasion. Roscoe got so many varied and exquisitely nuanced photographs of Shane, Inez and Claire Cheetah that Glenda threw caution to the wind and sold them to the sleazy leopard that publishes Animal Enquirer. She and Roscoe waited, their larders full of cash paid up front. The usually blasé leopard was nothing short of ecstatic.