Staci Simba Mnyama’s big night was Thursday.  Lachlan and I were invited to her graduation from nursing school which was followed by a large party given by her father at his bush house.  Betty was in attendance.  In fact Betty and Shane acted as if nothing had ever come between them.  They were canoodling in a corner and Betty acted as if she was the hostess for the soirée.  The only one who stood aside was Staci’s husband, Dr. Juma Mnyama.  He doesn’t seem to approve of Shane and vice versa.  They were polite but completely lacking in genuine warmth when ever interacting.  However, it was an exciting night for Shane’s oldest child.  She is finally a full fledged nurse and can take her place at her husband’s side as his total and unrestricted assistant. 

“I plan to extend my medical education,” she told Lachlan and me.  "I want to study more especially in the field of HIV and AIDS."

After losing her mother at a young age and seeing her father’s love life in constant disarray, she finally seems very content to be the wife of the government AIDS doctor.  It is easy to see that Staci is still the apple of her father’s eye. 

Staci and Juma in their new home....

            Betty didn’t stay put for very long.  She went with Jack Tarzan to her pied-à-terre in Manhattan.  There, he signed his book for two days.  It was selling like hot cakes.  Betty, with her editor, put the finishing touches on her memoir, sending it to the printer.  She had finalized the title:  BETTS -she called it.  It had enough publicity to be preordered for its entire first printing.  It would automatically go into a second printing.  Betty Chimpo Simba was now a multi-millionaire in her own right. 

Betty becomes a multimillionaire in her own right.....

   She visited me one afternoon.  She was in residence in her Leoparde Drive home just down the street.  Lachlan was working late at the Kenya Medical Facility seeing AIDS and malaria patients who were depressed by their plights. 

“Maurice, I have a great deal of money now.  I don’t really know what to do with my life these days.  I go go in many directions,” she said, lighting a cigarette. 

I thought a few minutes and then said the thing that had been on my mind for a good while. 

“Betts, why don’t you divorce Shane and make it stick?” was my suggestion. 

“He seems to think we will work our way back together, Maury.”

I had recently seen him in residence with Alexandra Delamere in France and thought differently.  “If that is the case, a divorce won’t stop you two.  It will just make the definitions in your life more complete.”

“Maurice, those two shrink lovers of yours have rubbed off.  That is a real stroke of wisdom.  I will think on what you said.”

            Later when Lachlan and I were seated on our back veranda for a nightcap, I replayed my conversation with Betty

“That was very astute of you, Maurice.  I think you may need to go into psychiatry—that is if you can stand the stuff.  It gets very reedy.”      

             Alexandra didn’t mention the fact that Shane’s multiple lovers were rubbing her the wrong way.  She wasn’t the whiny sort.  She merely returned to France after she read that Betty had virtually been the hostess at his party for his daughter.  She was in Paris for five days and unreachable on her cell phone.  Having caught the media’s eye by so publicly being seen with Shane, she was followed and photographed coming out of an apartment on the arm of her ex-husband.  She added that to several evenings in Paris bistros dancing, wining and dining with the same man.  It all made the news, both televised and otherwise.  Shane was fit to be tied.  I know this because I am in and out of his office all day long.  He was in a foul mood although he always restrains himself with me.

            Ashley and Lucy were back in residence in his bush home.  Ashley drank a great deal when home and kept busy on extended safaris.  Lucy found herself being housemate with his unpleasant daughter, Imani.  When it came to dominant personalities, Lucy was no match for Imani who had the Simba and Lyon blood flowing in her veins.  The only relief for the pregnant and rather nauseas Lucy was the fact that Imani had finally lost her jaguar spots and was going out a great deal. She also spent inordinate amounts of time in front of the ceiling to floor mirrors in her bedroom – a thing her father had ordered done for her room probably hoping she’d stay there more.   

Imani Lyon lords it over Lucy....

            On another front, Georgy Simba was wreaking havoc with her mother’s new marriage.  Caitlin Cougar Leo and her husband Homer Leo were having a devil of a time dealing with the precocious and ferocious Georgy.  Homer had bonded swiftly with Caitlin’s cub by Stephen Simba.  Carly was a nice and laid back youngster.  He adored his stepfather.  Georgy was getting worse due to the fact that her dad, Sloane Simba, had a new cub with his wife Caroline.  Little Cathy Simba was taking up a great deal of Sloane’s time although it could be said that Sloane adored both his girls. 

            Shane flew to Nairobi where he addressed Parliament and attended a summit on ecological matters.  He was driven to Alexandra’s house where he spent the night.  She had just returned from Paris and was still in the midst of unpacking.  They had drinks on her veranda. 

“Did you enjoy yourself in Paris, Alex?” he asked, lighting a cigarette, his voice cutting edge cold. 

She took his cigarette from him and lit one of her own with skinny, lacquered fingers.

“It was nice enough,” she told him.  “How have you been?”

She sat down, cool as a cucumber, her blue eyes icy and waited for his answer. 

“I’ve been wondering about you, your motives and your whereabouts.  You don’t even tell me when you are going to be away.”

“Since when did I have to?  You seem to think you're the one that oversees my life these days.”

“What am I to you, Alexandra.....I am really curious and concerned?”

“That entirely depends on what you want to be to me.  I will tell you, however, that someone with multiple mistresses and wives will never dictate anything to me.  I might be your sometime girlfriend but nothing more.”  She blew smoke between sultry lips and continued.  “I will have others too and I will go my own way when it pleases me.”

Shane Simba had never had anyone treat him like that except for Catherine, his late wife.  Suddenly it occurred to him that if Alexandra was a cat, she’d be Catherine and if Catherine had been human, she’d have been Alexandra. 

“You’re the human version of Cathy,” he said, more to himself then anyone else.  “You’re even long and lean like she was…..sort of an anthropoid version of a cheetah.”

“The cheetah is my favorite animal.  I identify with them.”

He stepped close and looked directly into her ice blue eyes.  “My dead wife was a cheetah.  She was the love of my life.”

“I think I had read that.  Do you want to stay the night?” she asked, putting a strong hand on his buttocks and holding him even closer. 

“Of course I do,” he breathed. 

They barely made it to her bedroom.  They were half naked, having torn the clothes off of each other on their path down the hall. 

            King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain paid Kenya a visit.  Shane entertained the royal family at his home in Mombasa.  The reason for the invitation was our new trading agreement with Spain.  Shane had Johanna stay behind in the mansion and called Alexandra to be his hostess.   She made an excellent one.  I was in attendance as well.  Once again the stunning Alexandra charmed all by her sophistication and wit.  The Spanish royals, being lovers of the sea, enjoyed the many water sports with Shane and Alexandra.  The last two days were spent on the presidential yacht.  The visit was a whopping success, the two leaders becoming fast friends.  Shane has invited the Irish for the fall. 

            Betty, having strangely taken my advice, filed for divorce again from Shane. This time he allowed it to proceed.  She asked for joint custody of their sons and that was all.  Shane gave her the bush house.  He was tiring of it and wanted another further into the savanna.  He also did something that I felt didn’t auger well for Betty’s hopes of a reconciliation – he had Sefu Simba push it through to finalization. 

            Johanna was still in residence but now with his divorce in the process, Shane began to spend more time with Alexandra.  He would spend the week with Johanna in the mansion and leave early Friday afternoon for one of Alexandra’s residences or his in Mombasa. 

            Betty came walking up the street to our house.  It was on a late afternoon and Lachlan had just returned from the mental health center.  We were preparing drinks in the kitchen when Betty rang the doorbell.  Lachlan led her to our veranda. She already had a drink and was holding an official document.

“Shit, Maury, here it is – my divorce from Shane.  Oh shit,” she cried, freshets of tears flowing down her face. 

“Betty, don’t panic,” cautioned Lachlan.  “What’s the difference between this piece of paper and just having him living with someone else and not yours at all?”

“It IS different, Lachlan. He’s not officially mine anymore,” she sobbed. 

I felt absolutely ghastly.  I had recommended that she file for another divorce from Shane.

“He NEVER was yours, Betts.  It was just an illusion.  He is absolutely no ones and no one should want him.  All of these women are headed for heartbreak.  You have gotten this behind you for the most part.  Just move on and if you two ever get back together then I’ll know you have rocks in your head,” said Lachlan.

Our entire evening was spent with Lachlan calming Betty and talking some sense into her head.  When she had finally left, I got us another drink.  We badly needed one. 

“That was an entire session that you just had with Betts,” I giggled.

“I know it was.  Do you think I should bill her?” he laughed.