Maurice & Friends

"Betty, I have to go to Lake Tanganyika and check on Patsy’s house. Will you go with me?” asked Jack Tarzan.

She looked at him in the soft light of his library. They were still about the business of arranging his books. The fact that he wanted to shelve them by subject matter and author wasn’t making the process any easier.

“That would be fun. If you promise me you’ll hang around in the buff, I will promise to go with you.”

“That’s a deal. You are welcome to do the same,” he laughed. “In fact, I insist.”

The morning was already beginning to heat up with its usual equatorial vitality. Betty piloted her plane into the blue sky over the Mara and banked it toward Tanzania and the lake. Jack sat by her gazing out the window on the savanna below. She had managed to soothe Pete’s ruffled nerves about spending several days not at his side directing his campaign. She was looking forward to this time with Jack. They would be mostly to themselves except for the caretaker. She patted Jack’s arm.

Staci and her cousin, Lee Simba, were getting .0settled in Alexandra’s home in Nairobi. The cousins were delighted at this new beginning. The second afternoon in residence, a doorbell sounded. Staci answered to find a human of rather attractive appearance standing there.

“My name is Stanley Morrison, a friend of Alexandra’s. She thought I might check on the both of you and see if anything was needed,” he stated, shuffling slightly with a sense of unease. “If you are not familiar with Nairobi, I can certainly help you gen up on where everything is located.”

“We’re having drinks, won’t you come in and join us?” invited Staci. “Please don’t mind the clutter. We are still unpacking some things.”

“That would be quite nice, actually. I am a bit on the thirsty side.”

The two young females found Stanley to be charming, witty, urbane and extremely helpful. He stayed to a meal which he prepared, neither Staci nor Lee being up on their culinary skills. He left much later that night, having invited them to his family’s main house nearby which he had inherited when his mother died.

Stanley charms Lee Simba over dinner.....

Shane Simba asked Lachlan to come to his office. Assuming it was for a session with his patient, Lachlan sat before Shane’s desk with his pencil and pad poised for taking notes. Shane surprised him.

“Lachlan, I will naturally pay you for a session but my purpose for asking you here was not due to stress on my part. I wanted to tell you of something Ralph Lyon and I are planning. We are presenting Maurice with the Order of the Golden Heart of Kenya – a medal and the country’s highest award. It’s to be a surprise. That’s where I hope you will play a part in getting him to the event without his knowing what it is to be.”

“How brilliant and what an honor that will be. This ‘session’ will be at no charge, Shane.”

“Maurice has earned it for being Ralph’s mainstay and, now, invaluable to me as well. He has seen the entire panorama and societal structures of Kenya evolve before his eyes and played a major role as well.”

“Tell me what to do, and it will be done.”

“We want you to accompany Maurice and keep him in the dark until the last possible minute. It will be in two weeks and in the guise of a personal party at the civic center. Alexandra will come up with some brilliant ideas, I have no doubt. She is so exceptional in doing these things.”

“You’re very happy with her, aren’t you, Shane?”

“I continue to pinch myself, Lachlan. Alex is such a joy to be around.”

They gave Patsy’s caretaker a brief vacation and enjoyed a very relaxed time. Jack took to his old habit of running around nude and sporting his magnificent body. Betty, in a bow to his nakedness, went about in something of a topless state. He had kept a boat shored in front of Patsy’s home. Jack and Betty went on daily fishing excursions, bringing the catch home and grilling it for dinner. They sat in front of a fire in the evenings and spoke of things that were on their minds, their work and friends. They skirted around the issues of their relationship. That didn’t need any tending at the moment. Everything was going swimmingly with late night love fests in Patsy’s feather bed upstairs. The entire five days passed in an almost dreamlike state, so relaxed and contented were the players. They swam, ate, drank well, made love, read sometimes and explored, further, the depths of their personalities. The time had been idyllic and a satisfied couple rose above the cloud banks over Lake Tanganyika and headed for the Masai Mara in Kenya.

Betty doing her share of exposure....

The two enjoy a restaurant on Lake Tanganyika a...

Jack Tarzan sports his favorite outfit.....

As it turned out (very conveniently for the ceremony Shane wanted for me) Ralph Lyon’s birthday was coming up in that same stretch of time. Unknown to me, Shane phoned Lachlan and told him the civic center bash would be a joint celebration for the former president’s birthday and for presenting my award. Amy Chui and I went before an impromptu gathering of the media on the State House lawn and announced that Ralph Lyon’s birthday would, from this time forward, become a national holiday for Kenya. Lewis Lyon called immediately upon hearing the news and told Shane he wanted to play a part in the civic center bash as well as plan something personal for his father.

“Willie, sit with me. I have something very special to impart,” said Betty to her good friend Wilda Wildebeest the evening of her arrival from Tanzania and Jack Tarzan.

Wilda stretched out on a chaise lounge. The two had sundowners. They both lit cigarettes.

“Okay, Betts, tell all.”

“I am in love with Jack Tarzan,” said Betty.

“Not Shane Simba anymore?”

“No, it’s Jack now. I am sure of it, Willie, and I feel so peaceful with him and about loving him.”

“This calls for the best champagne supper that I can treat you to at OKAPI’S,” said Wilda with real delight.

“The treats on me, Willie. I am so happy.”

“Not on you, on me - Ossie gives me a discount. I am good friends with his wife, Olga, and a member of the press. Let’s add to that equation that I am also fellow hoof stock.”

Of course Betty wanted to see Shane and authenticate her feelings. She used the excuse of Solly’s first report card for the new school session. She came to his office and was warmly welcomed by him. She handed him Solly’s report card which consisted of very good grades with the side note that their son seemed a bit on the chatty side and had to be shushed from time to time by his teacher. He chuckled at the report of Solly’s garrulous nature.

“How have you been, Shane? Is Alexandra faring well with her pregnancy?”

He looked up, his pale green eyes, the color of the Indian Ocean at high noon.

“I could have done without yet another vivid description of my genitals in one of your books, but never mind. Alex told me not to mention it to you. She was very amused by it. She is doing well. How are you, Betty? You look wonderful.”

“I am very happy. I have some news for you. I am in love with another male and over my obsession with you.”

“Oh?” he asked, seeming oddly taken aback at her declaration.

“I thought you would be thrilled at not having my lunacy to contend with any more, Shane.”

“I’m happy for you, Betty. As for being thrilled, you weren’t a bother anyway. I am vain enough to regret my loss of rank. Of course, I always felt rather good knowing that at least someone continued to love me despite my warts and crags.”

“I do love you, Shane. I always will but thank goodness it’s not this madness that tortured me endlessly.”

“Who is the lucky chap?” He lit a cigarette and leaned against his desk.

“I am going to keep that quiet for a while. I shall let you know when everything is said and done.”

“Is it the next president of Tanzania?”

“Oh dear heavens, not Pete…no indeed.”

Betty’s heart was racing. She couldn’t tell whether it was the close proximity of Shane or the fact that he didn’t seem all that pleased with her announcement. She certainly hoped it was the latter.

“Betty, I am very happy for you and whoever it is. I honestly am. You deserve a better male than I and as much happiness as is allowed in this world of ours.”

They chatted a bit about Solly’s last soccer game that he and Alexandra had attended. After a bit, he put his paw on her shoulder and escorted her to the outer office. She felt that familiar electric shock race through her at his touch. His cologne was scenting the air around him. She couldn’t wait to get out of there.

She found Wilda at home with a Bloody Mary. She joined her.

“What’s with the long face, Betts? You were on top of the world yesterday.”

“I went to Shane’s office to give him Solly’s report card.”

“That says is all, Betty. You go see Shane Simba and you’re right back at square one. Couldn’t the school have sent him a copy of the report card? After all he’s the fucking president of Kenya,” asked a practical and hard to fool Wilda.

“I told him about not obsessing over him any longer and he didn’t react as if he was delighted.”

Betty lit a cigarette and expelled the smoke through her nose.

“Why did you feel the need to tell him that, Betty? Did you want to see his reaction? Is that it? As for his not being ‘thrilled’, he is a conceited ass and loves having females being on pins and needles over him.”

“I just wanted to tell him is all, Willie.”

Wilda stuck a hoof in Betty’s face. “Stay away from him, Betts! You can send those boys to him on the appointed weekends. Don’t use any old excuse to go there. I know you share half of your children with him, but you can stay away until you are cured.”

“I am cured, Willie!”

“And warthogs climb trees.”

The Morrison home in Nairobi...

Stanley Morrison’s charming home on the outskirts of Nairobi was welcoming the night of his dinner invitation to the Simba cousins. The furnishings were the usual heavy English with faded chintz upholstery. There were plaques and framed tartans on the walls with the Morrison clan’s plaid and motto. Delicious aromas came from the kitchen area. They had drinks in his garden which also held the charm of the English, fragrant with climbing roses and ginger lilies. Ivy covered the brick walls. It was evident as the evening wore on that Stanley was focusing on Staci Simba Mnyama. He was a young man of much wit and charm. He was also warm and very caring. He had been immensely helpful to them, escorting them to grocery stores and picking up items for them when they were involved in classes at the University. The two cousins considered Stanley Morrison a great friend. It was Lee and Staci’s first time ever having a human being as a friend. Staci could tell that Lee was a bit disappointed in Stanley’s obvious focal point being Staci. Staci seemed taken with him too.

“Are both your parents dead, Stanley?” asked Staci.

“Yes, Father died long before my mum,” he said, and then smiling sadly added, “Human males don’t last long in East Africa, it seems.”

“Do you have a plantation too?” asked Lee, who loved wealth and details.

“I inherited only one, actually. My sister inherited the other. They are quite near Alexandra’s in the Great Rift Valley. We must go there some weekend. My house there is quite peaceful and comfy with an enormous veranda over looking some spectacular scenery.”

After a delightful evening with good food, drink and camaraderie, Stanley followed them home in his car.

“Nairobi can be rather rough at night for two young females,” he had told them.

“Are you sure that holds for big cats?” Lee had giggled.

“I hadn’t thought of that angle,” he admitted.

Lee Simba and her cousin Staci with their new human friend Stanley Morrison..