"Where’s Mommy?" he asked Imani.

She pointed a paw in the direction of the stairs. He climbed them, anxious to see Leah. She was in their room in bed. Two hot water bottles were balanced on her naked breasts.

"Leely, what’s wrong with your tits?" he asked in his typically unceremonious fashion.

She answered in kind.

"I had a boob job today at the Clinic. Todd Tigeres did it. They are throbbing like hell, Ash."

Ashley’s jaw dropped.

"Well, that’s special, Leah. What prompted you to enlarge your tits? I was perfectly happy with the size of ‘em."

"I’m doing a lot of sexy photo shoots these days. Since I can’t have more kids to nurse, I figured, what the hell. I might as well have killer bosoms."

Ashley was aghast. This was his innocent Leah, his child bride who wanted only him, children, him again, and then more of his children. What was happening here? It didn’t bode well. He dropped to the bed in a state of shock. He was not himself the rest of the evening.

They had their first falling out since their strange reunion after Catherine’s death and his return from Botswana. He was in her home late one evening. He was tense and filled with what appeared to be agitation, apprehension and some degree of paranoia. He seemed worried about the coming trip to the States. That was combined with an overwhelming miasma of grief for Catherine. He remarked that with his job, he was neglecting his children. She refuted that idea. He snapped at her acidly and stalked out. Betty didn’t see Shane for three days after that. She wondered if she would still be included on the official jet for his junket to the States. She slept badly, resigning herself to the things Montecore had warned her of. She received a call in her office at WMM-TV four days later. Shane was put through to her.

"Betty, don’t book rooms in the States. I have booked for you next to my suites in all of the hotels. You are under the names of non-existent security guards. I’m sorry about my outburst. You didn’t deserve that in any way. See you on the plane and in America."

"Yes, darling," she told him.

They hung up and she went on winged feet to her evening broadcast.

Montecore was playing the host to Betty. She was in his elaborate apartment over his disco. The one she had once lived in with him. She had just described to him her tiff with Shane Simba and the results. Gerald Giraffe was there also. They had opened a bottle of Russian vodka and were drinking it in iced shot glasses from the freezer.

"Betty, he is used to Catherine who was a spitfire. That’s what he probably liked in you too. Don’t be too subservient," advised Montecore.

"Girlfriend, don’t kiss his gorgeous ass," added Gerald who was quite shit faced.

"He needs soothing now. He’s been wounded terribly," argued Betty.

"Beware the grieving Greeks," chortled Gerald. "I still think he likes a lot of pepper with his honey. I knew Catherine well. After all, I’m in partnership with her parents. She would give him hell and knock him on his ass sometimes."

"I’m not going that route but thanks anyway for the advice. Is there more vodka? It is delicious," asked Betty holding out her shot glass for another.

Luke Leoparde gaped at the sight of his secret crush, Leah Lyon, in her bikini. It was obvious that those gorgeous bosoms were new. They were readying for a deep sea fishing junket. Imani, Kitty, Arlon and Tigger Tigeres were on the boat with them. Ashley and Leah had invited Shane’s children to join them in Mombasa this weekend since he was leaving for the States so Staci was also with the group. The younger cubs, Sim and Adam Lyon and Sean Simba remained at the house with their nannies. Arlon had also noticed his step mother’s enhanced mammarys and being of a certain age, had goosed his friend Tigger to call his attention to them. Ashley, having made his peace with his wife’s new bust line, was also enjoying the view.

Leah Lyon strikes a pose with her new boobs.....

Vice President Shane Simba walked about the official jet, Ralph One, welcoming the reporters that were accompanying him to the United States. The 747 jet was in the air and headed for America. He was in a jovial mood. He paid no special attention to Betty Chimpo but she didn’t mind. She held her delicious secret that she would be occupying the suite next to his under the arrangements he made made in the hotels where he would be staying in New York and San Francisco. In Washington he would stay at the Kenyan embassy for one night. His stay in the seat of American government would be brief since Ralph Lyon didn’t care for the present administration. It was a courtesy call only. Shane would spend thirty minutes with Bush and Cheney before his major meeting with former Vice President, Al Gore, which he looked forward to. They planned to discuss global warming and the environment. In New York, they would be staying for three days while Shane met with UN officials on environmental issues. He had been invited to address that most august body.  San Francisco was for a meeting with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The party would also tour the financial district and other points of interest in that city on the bay. Shane had scheduled meetings with some influential and celebrated animal rights activists who were centered in Los Angeles and the bay area.

Roy Lee Simba looked up. He had been standing behind the main camera in Baboon-Simba Studios eye balling a retake of a scene in The Thomas Crown Affair.

"Leah, have you had a boob job?" he roared to his daughter, who was in a bra and panties for a love scene with co-star, Micah Mbubé.

"Yeah, Dad. How can you tell?"

"How can I tell? Shit, the other scenes won’t match now. Those breasts of yours are obviously enlarged."

"Sorry, Dad. I didn’t think about that angle."

Micah was caught between rubbernecking and trying to suppress his laughter at Roy Lee’s plight.

"Get up and put  your clothes on. I’ll have to use a freaking body double with smaller tits in this scene. Damn, damn, damn."

"Sorry again, Dad," giggled Leah.

Just outside of Washington, D.C., Ralph One stood on the tarmac at Dulles International. All had deplaned. Shane and his aides to the Kenyan Embassy. The reporters, including Wilda Wildebeest and Betty went to the Shoreham Hotel. Betty was rooming with Wilda. They went down for drinks and dinner and had a great time. All seemed happy to be with the vice presidential junket with the exception of Caroline Cheetah, who sat smoking and sulking in a corner of the bar.

Glenda Gorilla was sitting with the long time producer of her Entertainment World show at WMM-TV. They were in his office.

"Find the money for me to take my photographer to the States and follow the vice presidential party, puleeze," begged Glenda.

"It would have been so much easier if you had been accepted on the official jet, Glenda."

"You know Shane Simba wasn’t going to approve me, Charley. I outed him in Paris with that human model, Johanna something or other. Remember?"

"Do you have any good reason to go there and follow them now?"

"Yes, my dear. Our very own Betty Chimpo is screwing the brains out of our vice president. I want to catch them in the act."

"Damn, Glenda. Are you sure of that?"

"Haven’t you seen them together on the beach? The Masai Mara Daily ran their picture a few weeks ago."

"They were there with a party of other animals around them. That doesn’t necessarily mean they are banging each other. He’s still grieving for his dead wife."

"Balls! He isn’t grieving for shit. He’s fucking Betty."

"I’ll see what I can do to get the funding. Hang loose, Glenda."

They vice presidential party was pulling into the entrance of the Four Seasons Hotel in New York City. First the official limousine followed by the bus holding the press corps. A huge crowd was being held back by the police. When Shane Simba emerged from the limo, they went wild. Betty, watching from the bus window, felt greatly disturbed. The crowd was mostly women calling to Shane in a frenzy of adulation. She had witnessed this once before on a brief trip abroad when she and her sister, Gloria, had accompanied Roy Lee Simba to a premiere of a film they had written the screen play for. The women had tried to tear the superstar’s clothes, snatching at his mane as well. This shouting wild eyed crowd was very reminiscent of the one that had attacked Roy Lee. Shane acknowledged them with a wave as he entered the hotel.

Shane Simba enters the UN building in New York and addresses the assembly.

Glenda Gorilla and her monkey photographer were crammed in the economy section near the exit door of a Kenyan Airways commercial jet heading for America.

"This is awful," remarked the monkey.

"Sit tight, dammit. This is the best I could do with the funds we got for the trip. Get a drink from the cart and take a nap," commanded Glenda. "We’ll be there in no time."

"What the hell are you talking about, Glenda? This trip is at least ten hours. This is a flying bus. If you hadn’t pissed off Shane Simba, we’d be sipping champagne on Ralph One."

"Let me remind you that it was you that shimmied across that ledge and got those pictures of him flagrante delicto in Paris."

"It was all in a day’s work for your raunchy ass," he said as he paid for two vodkas from the beverage cart as it came down the aisle.
 

Betty was putting her things up in her suite in the Four Seasons hotel. Wilda Wildebeest had asked her to share a room with her and Betty had responded that she was staying with a relative that was joining her.

"A relative, Betty? I didn’t know you had family in the States," said Wilda with a wink that implied she understood fully.

Her suite was immediately next to the Presidential Suite occupied by Shane Simba. He was still at the UN so she took the elevator down to join Wilda in the bar.

"So, where are you really staying, Betts?" asked Wilda, lighting a cigarette.

"I can’t say, Willie. It’s really top secret."

"I get it. Good for you. I hope you land him, Betty. I don’t know what you’ll do if you don’t. You seem totally in love."

"I am," agreed Betty, lighting a Kool.

"You seem to be quite the matinee idol," said Betty.

She and Shane were lying in his bed in the hotel. They were smoking, their cigarette ends glowing in the darkened room.

"I can’t believe it. I’m not exactly Roy Lee."

"You know you’re a sexy and gorgeous devil," she teased.

He kissed her nose.

"Ready for the next round?" he asked as he rolled on top of her.

"You bet!"