LOOSENING UP
You don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note.
Doug Floyd
Johanna Delacroix was feeling very good about things. Shane was beginning to border on tenderness in his behavior toward her. As for her turning the lion president on – well that was a given. They made love in the bathtub in his three homes as well as the showers. The bush and Mombasa homes were equipped with magnificent hot tubs. There they thrashed away in true sexual zeal. It was one big love fest when Shane was not working. He would often return to the mansion for a nap which translated into a big screwing session. Shane marveled at how pregnancy brought out the tart in Johanna. He was not at all displeased and regained a modicum of contentment in his personal life. His three sons, Solly, Tarek and Jalil, were beginning to take to Johanna. Although the cubs were a little rough for a fragile human, with the nannies keeping them in tow, Johanna would play with them in their nursery and evenings when Shane was there. Solly was gaining some maturity and wasn’t as hard on Johanna - Solly sort of quietly missed his mom.
Shane and Johanna at his home in Mombasa.....
Tarzan sat in Betty’s living room. It was the first she had seen of him in three or four days.
“I’ve been selling some of my frozen catch in town,” he explained.
“I think you are upset at us having sex, Jack.”
“Betty, I have never done anything like this before. I always screwed my own species. I’m not sure that we felt right.”
Betty tried to hide her sadness by lighting a cigarette. “Sorry about that. It won’t happen again.”
“Betty, I am just trying to adjust to what I’ve done.”
“Trying to stick to your own rules, is that it?” Her eyes were filled with tears.
“I guess so. But it looks like it will be a losing battle,” he chuckled.
She brightened. “Why?”
“Because I liked it really - I like you, Betty.”
“Oh, I’m so glad, Jack - because I really like you too.”
He held up a warning paw. “It’s not a big wham bam love story, Betty. Don’t get all covered in confetti and roses. We’ll take this thing a day at a time and see where it goes.”
“That’s the way it should be, Jack.”
Ashley Lyon and Lucy Cougar spent their next weekend on Bernard and Sylvia Cougar’s boat in the Indian Ocean. There, they fished with the Cougars and enjoyed themselves immensely. Bernard and Sylvia were no strangers to Ashley Lyon. He had grown up around them, being Ralph and Mildred Lyon’s son. Ashley and Lucy joined Bernard in windsailing. In the evenings they drank sundowners on the deck of the gorgeous power boat. It was more like a family get together than meeting a youngest daughter’s new beau.
Bernard Cougar on his power boat off the coast of Mombasa.....
Chloe Cougar was horrified that Lucy, her kid sister, had gotten hold of the newly single Ashley Lyon. Chloe had salivated over Ashley from a very young age. How the fuck did the inexperienced Lucy manage to latch on to the male she considered in the same league with her ex-hubby, Roy Lee Simba?
Things were not going well in the household of Sloane Simba and his wife, Caroline. Sloane’s daughter, Georgy, was still in residence and driving the temperamental Caroline bonkers. Georgy, discovering new ways to torture her stepmother, set to the task. It was a tremendous relief when Caitlin Cougar Leo decided that her own new marriage was stable enough to recover her daughter. Georgy screamed in a decided temper tantrum when it was announced that Sloane would take her to the Leo estate and her mom’s new home. Caroline smiled and waved a very insincere goodbye as Sloane drove Georgy from the drive, on her way to Caitlin and Homer’s bungalow.
Sloane with his daughter, Georgy, the 'daddy's girl'.....
Tarzan was in no way an avid suitor. He kept his distance despite the fact of his having been intimate with Betty at last. Most afternoons, he walked up her stairs to deliver her fish and failed to stay or return. One Sunday, he came in his ramshackle Jeep and drove her to his house. It was on a path that can only be described as primitive. The surprising fact was that it was on the lake shore after a circuitous route off the dirt road above. It was nothing more than a pieced together tin roof over a woven open air structure. To the rear sat a building of sounder construction. Within that hummed a generator which kept a freezer going. A canoe was beached in the front of the house. He led Betty inside where two cases of the local beer sat on a rickety table. On the floor in one corner, lay a woven mat. Betty gathered that was the spot where he slept. He went to the outside structure and brought in a bottle of the local wine. He poured some in a glass that had seen better days. He handed it to Betty.
“So what do you think now, Betty? This is the way I live. It’s a far cry from what you’ve known.”
“I have to admit, it is different from the way I’ve lived, Jack. What is the point you’re trying to make?”
“Would you enjoy sex with me if it took place on that mat over there?”
“I suppose I could but I would enjoy it more in my bed.”
He stood for a while, absorbing what she had said. His face was implacable. They both stood very still. The shack was so quiet one could hear a pin drop. He finally broke the spell by laughing softly.
“I have to admit, you’re a candid soul. I like that. Quite frankly, I’d hate sex on that damn mat. Let’s go to your place. We can drink some beer and wine and get it on.”
Betty burst into laughter and lit a cigarette.
“You’ve got a date,” she giggled.
Ashley chose Clint Cougar, Lucy’s half brother to design his bush house. Clint was a new daddy. His wife, Chelsea Cheetah Cougar, had just given birth to twins. Clint, having been born and raised in Montana, was familiar with the western style of architecture that was becoming popular in the Mara. He designed a stucco structure for Ashley that would sit charmingly on the savanna beneath a kopje. Ashley drove Lucy to see the site. Later they had dinner with Luke and Jane.
One evening, Johanna in a hormonal disruption probably due to early pregnancy, broke into sobs. She and Shane were in the bush house watching television.
“What is it, Jo?” asked an alarmed Shane.
“I’m too happy these days. I shouldn’t be,” she wept.
“Why the hell not?”
“Because, that’s when you will want me gone and this will all go up in a puff of smoke,” she wailed.
“Shit, am I that bad?” he asked, pulling her close and kissing her hair. “That’s not going to happen.”
“I love you and I’m afraid.”
“Don’t be afraid, Jo-jo. I love you too. Let’s go to bed. You need your beauty sleep to stay that gorgeous.”
Lachlan before dinner in the outside tent at Bernard and Sylvia Cougar's bridal party for Staci Simba.....
The cicadas sang loudly in Sylvia and Bernard Cougar’s elegant garden. A large tent was set up out back. They were feting the granddaughter of their long time friends, Dorian and Cynthia Cheetah. The garden was packed with guests. Lachlan and I made our way among the invited. We spoke to the guests of honor, Staci Simba and her fiancé Dr. Juma Mnyama. Tonight the old guard as well as the younger set was there. Shane unabashedly arrived with Johanna. Bertram Baboon and Gloria Chimpo had been invited as well. I greeted Sloane Simba who seemed a bit distracted - probably due to the fact that his pregnant wife Caroline had a snarl on her face.
Lachlan gave me a discreet pinch to my seat and whispered, “Are you having fun yet?”
“Not really. I may be getting too old for parties,” I replied in his ear.
“Or….maybe they’re getting too old for you.”
We left early, Lachlan definitely having early hours at the mental health center. We passed an inebriated Tookie Simba in the hall getting felt up by Curtis Cheetah, the bride-to-be’s uncle.
Staci and Juma had just returned to his place when an argument broke out.
“What a decadent crowd,” grumbled Juma, referring to the guests at Sylvia and Bernard’s soiree.
“How so?” asked a nervous Staci.
“Did you see that lioness in the hall getting it on with that cheetah?”
“That’s my Aunt Tookie and my Uncle Curtis. You met them at the last party.”
“There’s a time and place for everything, Staci. You don’t use the entrance hall to screw at someone’s bridal party.”
“Don’t be such a Polly pure ass, Juma. You and I screw all the time.”
“In the privacy of our rooms, Staci..... then there was your dad who got so bent out of shape when you got pregnant. He’s at the party flaunting his human lover.”
A big row ensued. It culminated with Juma apologizing to Staci.
“I guess we’re both a bundle of nerves. I wish to hell we’d just eloped, don’t you?” he asked, holding her tightly.
“Yes, I do.”
The doorbell rang and in walked Juma’s colleague, Dr. Trevor Tau and Staci’s cousin, Leah. After a couple of drinks they all ended up going to Trevor’s river home and partying further.
Tarzan lay on his back on Betty’s bed.
“I have to admit, this probably beats the hell out of my mat,” he laughed.
“I don’t mean to be a smart ass but you are one hell of a quick study artist,” she teased.
“It’s easy to learn when you are enjoying what you do,” he told her, rolling on top and being careful not to hurt her injured shoulder.
“And I am so enjoying being your guinea pig,” she giggled. “Practice away.”
The following day, she went with him to the fishing grounds while he made the day’s catch. They drank beer and bottled water while he trolled or tossed his net in the choppy waters. She had prepared canned ham sandwiches for their lunch. She stayed under the boat’s thatched roof while he worked his trade. That evening, he stayed with her.
“You make a good fishing partner. Did you practice this skill while being a president’s wife?” he laughed.
“Wait until my arm is better. I’ll mend your nets for you,” she told him.
“You are a jack-of all trades,” he teased, nuzzling her face with his.
“No, that’s you.”
That Monday, Shane accompanied Johanna to her appointment with Dr. Frank Tigeres at the clinic. After an ultrasound of the fetus, they sat in Frank’s office.
“One fetus, strong heartbeat,” said Frank, then in an attempt to be humorous: “I don’t see a tail yet.”
Shane chuckled. Johanna burst into tears.
“Are these crying spells of Jo's her hormones going batty?” asked the lion.
“I suppose so,” answered the tiger.