HOMECOMING
Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.
Anaïs Nin, Diary, 1969
Surprise visitors paid a call to the main military bases at the front. Former President and First Lioness, Mildred and Ralph Lyon deplaned from a military helicopter. The troops went wild at the sight of them. They walked about with the current President, greeting the soldiers and giving them a bit of encouragement in a conflict that was in its sixth week. Mildred and Ralph had been among those who visited the hospitals in Nairobi and other areas of Kenya. They would go from bed to bed, greeting the wounded and offering their brand of solace which was considerable.
Former First Couple visit the military base at the front....
Shane Simba came home for a brief two days to see his doctors and family. He had been gone the entire length of the conflict with Somalia. Jane came on the same flight to check her little ones and see Luke.
When the elevator door opened to let Shane out on the floor containing the family quarters, Betty was waiting for him. Solly, who could run about by now, also was there to see his beloved Dada.
“Darling, you look tired. I wish you would stay for a bit. I do hope you aren’t fretting about my not visiting the wounded but my pregnancy prevents it. You know how much this cub means to me – and to you, darling.”
“It’s your call, Betty—as always,” he said, holding Solly in his arms. “But I didn’t realize that walking around and pregnancies were mutually exclusive.”
“Oh, Shane, darling, that’s not a nice thing to say. You know how a pregnant female is rather fragile and I don’t want to have a miscarriage so I can’t visit the hospitals for the time being. I’m sure you understand where I’m coming from, darling.”
“All I know is that if you ‘darling’ me one more time I will literally gag on the sound of it.”
He walked down the hall, carrying Solly with him. Betty slumped against a wall.
“My God, he sounds like he loathes me,” she told herself, her heart cringing at the thought.
His doctors pronounced him fit as a fiddle. He left the next day after spending an edgy but rather pleasant evening with Betty. Jane was at the airport when his helicopter put down. They took an unmarked military plane back to the war zone.
The Somalis, having many men either dead or wounded, were making noises signifying a desire for a truce with Kenya. Shane indicated that Kenya was ready for one. On a morning filled with dust devils, Shane went with soldiers to meet with the president of Somalia, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed. The two agreed to a truce with a more permanent treaty to follow. The problem with Somalia was that its central government was so fragile, it remained to be seen whether their leader could control all its factions.
Shane and his party arrive in Somalia for truce talks....
Shane decided to remain another two weeks at the front, should the truce fail. He wanted to be there in case the conflict reemerged. With the truce came a more relaxed military base. There were still the guards and patrols where Kenya’s border met Somalia’s. Nevertheless, the mood was one of jovial expectation that the soldiers would not incur more losses to their numbers and return to their normal duties and families. Shane and Jane ate each night in the mess hall with the various generals and soldiers. The camaraderie they had established with the military continued to develop. There were games and laughter once more on the base. For the lovers it was a bittersweet, time, knowing they would return to their normal lives very soon. They savored the long nights where they would shower off the day’s dust, make love and talk through the soft hours of darkness. They spoke of their dreams for their children, themselves and a hope for a future together at some point in time. Though this dream was not likely to come true, the lovers still yearned and spoke of it.
The day came, at last, when the President’s helicopter landed on the pad near the State Mansion. We all gathered there, along with a band that played the national anthem of Kenya while Shane walked down the steps of the helicopter on to the lawn. His attire was the uniform of a general of the Kenyan Armed Forces. He had certainly earned the right to wear it. The Masai welcomed him with chants and dancing, waving their spears in salute to their leader. The media swarmed him, with whirring cameras, popping flashes and many shouted questions. I wondered if he would pull his wife into the fray but he didn’t. Betty stood to the side while the reporters had their field day with him. He was a hero now - a genuine one, carved from the backbone of our recent conflict. He was certainly handsome enough to wear this crown. He stood proud, confident and tall as he gave a rousing speech about our country and the truce with the troublesome Somalis. I couldn’t help but get a lump in my throat. I looked to Betty, whose face was unreadable.
The Masai warriors dance for the President's return to the Mara...
At his home in his pride compound, Ralph Lyon watched Shane’s return on a live televised broadcast. Mildred sat with him.
“I knew I picked the right one for the office, Millie. I just knew it. Shane Simba has proved me right,” roared Ralph.
“You certainly picked a winner, dear,” she agreed.
Jane went home to her new cubs and her best friend who also happens to be her husband. She returned, as her own brand of heroine, to the Masai Mara Daily where she had submitted articles of such depth that the Associated Press had snapped them up for use in international newspapers. She was summoned to Bob Bushbuck’s office once again. He stood behind his desk to greet her.
“Jane, you are outstanding, dear girl. I have just bought the Nairobi Post. Do you want to go there as the head of the news department? It’s a much larger operation than the Daily.”
“Bob, I appreciate the show of confidence, but my home is in the Mara. I am married and have my children. Luke’s is a wonderful house to raise them in.”
“I thought you might say that, Janie. I will make you my general manager here and raise your salary. I realize that as the wife of a Leoparde heir, it no longer matters as to your salary,” he said with a wink. “But it is a matter of honoring you and showing what a valuable asset you are to this paper.”
That same week, President Shane Simba was nominated for a Nobel Peace prize for his skillful parlaying with the Somalis and the avoidance of war. He was also cited for the trips to war torn countries which Jane had encouraged him to take.
Celebrations ran riot in our country which had narrowly escaped the grim specter of full blown war. A ball was held in honor of our president. It took place in the civic center. The evening was warm and fragrant with flowering plants bordering the state-of-the-art building. Shane arrived with Betty. I saw Jane there with Luke Leoparde. The lovers, as usual, were very circumspect in their social outings when each was present.
The second Sunday after his arrival home, Shane and Betty went to church where a resounding choir sang Jerusalem, Shane’s favorite hymn. The Reverend Saul Serval preached a flowery sermon, bordering on syrupy, about the young lion president. Ralph Lyon could almost be heard snoring to the rear of the church as the good reverend droned on. Being of rather pagan proclivity, our former President had been dragged there by his wife, Mildred, and his other lionesses.
Staci Simba’s hours in the air were growing to the point that Luke Leoparde knew her pilot’s license loomed near. They were on the final approach to Mombasa where they often went for her flight training. She landed the plane smoothly and they went to the bar of the Safari Club. Luke was taking a sip of his gin and tonic when Staci slam dunked him out of the blue.
“I know about my father and Jane,” she said, not missing a beat nor batting an eyelash.
“I beg your pardon,” gasped Luke, dabbing spewed drink off his shirt front.
“I know my dad is having an affair with Jane and I know you know it too.”
“Well, I must say, Staci, you are quite the mind reader to have caught that one.”
“I saw it when we were on the base at the front. I realized then that you knew about it.”
“Well, shit! Where shall I begin?” he laughed in a laconic manner, his mind blown by her perception.
“At the beginning, please. I’m a big cat now... I can take it.”
“Do you know that Jane’s cubs are his? I married her to give them a name and a home.”
“I saw it in Andrew’s eyes when I was at your house for supper that evening. Andrew’s eyes are green like my father’s. Moreover, they both look like total lions. Do you mind the situation?”
“Jane is my best friend aside from Ashley Lyon. It’s agreeable to be married to your best friend; especially when you are not one for traditional marriages with the curtailment they involve. We don’t sleep together. It’s a platonic thing. What are your feelings on the matter?”
“That my father truly loves Jane. I think Betty sort of took him over after my mom’s death. I don’t think he had time to really grieve and move on.”
“Staci Simba, you are one of the most extraordinary females I’ve ever met.”
“Keep talking,” she giggled, turning his innards to molten lava.
Luke Leoparde was not the only one to appreciate the amazing characteristics of the president’s oldest daughter. Dr. Juma Mnyama had to bite his tongue so as not to declare what was a growing sense of enrapture. He worked alongside Staci almost every weekend in stricken villages as well as evenings when she trained under him as an AIDS nurse at the clinic. He was aroused by her physical beauty and presence and amazed at her mature and efficient manner in all the projects she took on. When she had announced to him that she was taking flying lessons so as to pilot the AIDS team to their various destinations, he was moved beyond words. The lion doctor, himself, was a controlled and contained animal and wondered at his fixation on the young cheetah-lion mix. He wondered if Shane Simba would ever allow him to date Staci and if he could permit himself to do this, taking into consideration she was linked to him professionally. Staci, without being aware of this, was as delectable to males as her father was to females. One might say that both father and daughter have magical qualities when it comes to the opposite sex.
Dr. Juma Mnyama, who also harbors a growing love for Staci Simba....
The First Lady, Betty Simba
Betty was in her second month of a three and a half month gestation period. Her sonograms spoke of a thriving male lion cub. She was already wearing maternity clothes and would have been ecstatic if the growing distance between herself and her adored husband was not so vast. He seemed disinterested in this pregnancy, preferring to stay holed up in his executive office past working hours. The conflict with Somalia had changed him as all wars transform their participants. He was honed and evolving even more rapidly in his role as our nation’s leader. I felt his passion for our country growing by the day as we worked with the leaders of other nations to stem the growing tide of extremist insurgencies. He called for a summit to be held in Nairobi. The leaders of the free world and moderate third world nations accepted his invitation. He went to Nairobi often to set the stage for the event. I would accompany him as would the journalist who not only loved him but had borne his children. I witnessed the growing bond between them. I marveled at anyone who failed to sense the same thing. It seemed to go beyond physical love. It almost had a supernatural quality to it. They moved as one and seemed to think as one. She was there, in her capacity as reporter, covering the preparations for this landmark event. She is probably the reason for Bob Bushbuck’s entering such echelons of news coverage that he was able to purchase a major newspaper in Nairobi. Her talents as a journalist are remarkable and she, of course, knows our President intimately and writes of him profoundly.