We boarded the official helicopter to take us to the State House and those waiting there. Diana asked Shane if he would honor her with a set of tennis. He responded that of course he would but without any real emotion other than good manners. When we landed, the chopper blades blowing so wildly that Alexandra Simba was having to hold her skirt so as not to have it blown over her head, Shane emerged and headed straight for his wife, hugging her tightly despite her pregnant belly. After seeing the party to their guest quarters on the first floor of the state mansion where everything of an official nature is held, Shane and I returned to the offices along with Alexandra who was to do a bit of work with her secretary, Bernice Bear.

    It was a week of heady activity to honor a leader who was the first of his kind in his nation - a beacon of sorts to animals world wide who wished to see more of this sort of ascendancy into world leadership. Alexandra had planned major social activities during Pete's stay in Kenya. First there was a barbecue at the President's bush home where a small personal group was invited, including the Ralph Lyons, Bernard Cougars, Dorian Cheetahs and others of the mainstay group of animals that began to be movers and shakers in Kenya. Betty Chimpo was invited and brought her lover, Jack Tarzan whom she now lives with. This was followed by a major dinner dance and reception at the State Mansion. One of Kenya's major string quartets was on the page for entertainment. Then there was the military band and dancing. All of this beautifully planned and made possible by the machinations of the talented first lady, Alexandra. A ballet and play of one performance only was held at the Lawrence Leoparde Memorial Arts Center. Pete was given a tour of the new addition to the Tigeres-Lyon Clinic, which is to be a major source of treatment in Sub-Saharan Africa. Shane played his obligatory set of tennis with Diana Duma. I believe he may have let her win one game. There was no interest or mention of her resemblance to Catherine from him nor any glances in her direction other than those that were required by the dictates of etiquette. We saw the party off after what I consider a successful week of talks and impressive tours and entertainment.

Shane and Alexandra Simba at the party for the Tanzanian president in their bush home....

    Staci Simba had taken up residence in her old townhouse near her cheetah grandparents and had a week under her belt as head nursing supervisor for emergency nursing services at the Tigeres-Lyon Clinic. She was looking forward to a shopping spree with her grandmother, Cynthia Cheetah, to find furnishings to refurbish her town home. She was topping her work day off with a martini at the Watering Hole Pub this Friday night. The place was bustling with animals and some humans seeking fun for the beginning weekend. Staci was sipping her martini at the main bar when a male lion pushed next to her and ordered a Scotch. It was Ashley Lyon.

"Staci Simba, what are you doing back in the Mara? Your dad told me that you were in medical school in Nairobi these days."

Staci had grown up sharing times at the beach with Ashley when he was still married to her first cousin, Leah Simba. She had gone fishing with Leah, Ashley and Luke Leoparde many a time growing up. She had been a cub with a major crush on the handsome and dashing lion.

"I realized that I had been a student most of my life so I dropped out of med school and reverted back to nursing. I am working with Sylly, Frank and Ted at the clinic. I just got a divorce recently and am still a bit shaken up by that fact. How is Lucy?" asked Staci, remembering that Ashley's current wife is her old nursing school chum, Lucy Cougar.

"Well and at home with our fairly new cubs. I read about that human boyfriend of yours, how is that working for you?"

"Stanley and I are still friends but I just am not ready for humans. I guess I still have a major thing for Juma," she said sadly as Ashley ordered more drink for them.

"And he is engaged to my ex-wife and your first cousin - - OOPS!"

"Yes, that is the skinny on that situation. I just bury myself in work these days," she remarked sadly.

Ashley was a couple years older than her dad but still very much in his prime and jaunty as well as sexy. She still liked his looks and personality a great deal despite the fact that she was well over her crush of the past.

"Hey, a pretty thing like you needs more than work, Staci. Have dinner with me at the new Simba's restaurant. It's very gala and chic there and owned by a couple of your uncles," invited Ashley.

"That would be great fun. Will Lucy mind if I borrow you for the evening?"

"Hey, I was a second daddy to you when you were a tot, remember?" he laughed. "Lucy is at home and we’re here and in the moment."

"You’ve won me over, let’s go, Ashley."

Ashley Lyon runs into Staci at the Watering Hole Pub.....

    Leah Simba, in order to join her fiancé in his off times, bought a new motorcycle and joined her father and Juma Mnyama on Sunday morning jaunts. The athletic Leah had taken up dirt biking along with Ashley Lyon when he was still very much her husband. Now she used those skills to ride with Juma. Juma and his future father-in-law, Roy Lee Simba, were bonding in their mutual interest. Janice Jaguar Simba, who had years before while married the first time to Roy Lee, had learned to ride a motorcycle. Some early Saturday mornings and late Sunday afternoons, parents, daughter and fiancé could be seen and heard riding in foursome. On Sunday night, the foursome, along with most of Leah’s cubs, would have dinner at either Roy Lee’s estate, Leah’s house just down the street or Juma’s home on the Mara River.

Leah Simba on her new Honda bike....

       Chris Simba, going great guns and catching fire in his new job in the Serengeti in Tanzania. He was also pleased with another component of his life. He had known only one domesticated female in his life....his ex-wife, Christine Cheetah. Now he had another. He was living in a rather odd fashion with the not yet divorced Caitlin Cougar Leo. Caitlin was one of those females who love to putter about the house and create fine smelling foods along with her sculpture. Chris and Caitlin had come together in a strange lark, pulling up roots in the Mara and coming to the Serengeti where Chris had taken the government job proffered by his brother, Shane. Despite aggravations emanating from the Masai Mara, the twosome were enjoying their lives together in a surprise to both of them. Chris’ pending divorce was being fought by his wife, Johanna Delacroix Simba. Homer Leo had consented sadly to divorcing Caitlin. Her problems arose with angry phone calls from her ex-hubby, Sloane Simba, who was at a loss as what to do with their errant daughter, Georgy Simba. Steven SImba had placed their son, Carly, on a plane to Tanzania. He had hit if off so well with Chris, who had never been known as great ‘dad material’, so well that Carly had stayed an extra day or so. Things were going swimmingly. Caitlin was even placing some of her sculptures in a small gallery opened by a dik dik in the Serengeti which was popping with activities, Pete having made it the center of government in Tanzania.

"Caitlin, you have run off leaving Georgy to her own devices. What the hell can you be thinking about?" roared Sloane Simba over the phone.

"You are her dad, Sloane, and the only one that can really control her," argued Caitlin.

"Bullshit.....no longer. She’s all over the map in her fancy clothes, living a dissolute lifestyle with that idiot Imani Lyon."

"Oh, Sloane, give me a break. It can’t be all that bad."

"I never figured you for a cop out where your kids are concerned, Caitlin," said Sloane, slamming the phone in her ear.

     Shane and Alexandra were kicking back in their bush house bedroom with drinks and a light supper. It had been a frenetic week but now the visitors had left.

"Shane, I know you must have caught the extreme resemblance of Diana Duma to your wife, Catherine," said Alexandra.

Alexandra had seen the pictures of Catherine that adorned her children’s bedrooms in all of Shane’s homes.

"Yeah, she does look like Cathy," agreed Shane.

"Did it bother you too greatly?"

"It made me think, Alex, and hark back to some memories."

"I’m sure it did, Luv."

"Do you know what I was thinking, Alex?"

"I don’t believe I do. Do you want to tell me?"

"I cannot imagine having the horrendous verbal exchanges that I engaged in with Catherine with you. I can’t even imagine engaging in some of the conversations I held with Betty and relate them in any way to you. You and I have had our arguments but never using the invectives that were part of my exchanges with those two. It’s so different with you, Alex. I love you so deeply and can’t imagine saying anything loathsome or hurtful to you - ever."

"Oh, Shane, Luv, what a beautiful thing for you to say to me. You can’t imagine how much I love you too."

"It is so different living with you, Alex. I have never experienced a female like you before."

Shane and Alexandra talk after the visit from the Tanzanian group....

    Lachlan and I were getting ready for his birthday bash which I had set up at the new Simba’s restaurant. I had invited some of his medical cohorts and some of our neighbors on Leoparde Drive. He had not wanted a splashy occasion.

"I was so surprised at Shane’s lack of interest in Catherine’s look-alike, Diana Duma," I told him as I adjusted his tie.

"I saw him with Alexandra at two of the parties held for Pete Levin, Maurice. Shane Simba is growing up. He seems very much in love with Alex. I think this one may be the magic number for him."

"I hope you’re right, Lach."

"I believe I am."

    My gift to him had been an elaborately built hot house such as Bertram Baboon owned down the street from us. Lachlan was an inveterate gardener and fisherman in his spare time. He had so little of that, I wanted to make his few off moments as fine as possible. I had looked back to my past and reread some of my diary entries from the Lawrence Leoparde years. I loved and adored my lion partner for the peace and stability had brought to my personal life.

Dr. Gus Leo ( a colleague of at the mental health center) (left) and Lachlan (right) share a moment of hilarity as I look on at Lachlan's birthday bash at Simba's eatery......