Shane wrote into law the creation of government controlled stores especially for those receiving food stamps.  He had worked on the premise with Sloane, his justice minister.  Oscar Scar, already a successful wholesale grocer, immediately bid on one in the Mara, Tsavo West and two in Nairobi.  He won the contract. I wondered at Shane’s sudden interest in the indigent but chalked it up to his general talent for dotting the i's and crossing the t's.  His steel trap mind missed little.  Betty began to come to her office in the State House once more although the look on her face was tense and at times almost angry. 

“Lachlan, do you think Betty is having her post partum problems again?” I asked one night over drinks in front of the fire. 

“No, Maury, Betty is just not herself because Shane is not laying it on thick.  I am seeing her twice a week and she tells me he is home each evening.  I do think he is having a love affair but not one of his usually frantic liaisons which require constant sex.  He is very peaceful and easy in his skin these days.  This is what worries me about this one.  It bodes well for his ulcers but not for Betty in the long run.  He hasn’t yet told me about it and denies having one when I ask.”

            Sam Simba clashed with the usually laid back and non combative Oscar Scar on the matter of housing for his pride.  Sam had built a home in the Scar pride territory for Oscar’s sister from whom he was separating.  He had announced it to be a house for the entire pride.  This gave Oscar’s sense of accomplishment a kick in the britches.  Oscar was quite successful now with his grocery empire and his marriage to the Jackal Realty owner, Jerrilyn.  Oscar had housed the subject of Sam’s displeasure, his father Old Scar.  When the irascible old lion’s daughter, Allison, had married Sam Simba and lived in his wonderful home on the Mara River he had joined his lionesses and various pride members who flocked there.  Oscar placed a rather cross phone call to Sam Simba telling him that if his pride had needed housing he was wealthy enough to provide it. 

“Well you should have hopped to it, Oscar, instead of waiting for me to do it - anything else?”

The call ended testily, neither party feeling good about the other. 

            Tawny Tigeres let one of her younger siblings move into her bungalow in the Tigeres compound.  She moved most of her personal effects to Sam Simba’s river home.  There she occupied his personal life in addition to his professional.  The first night of her occupancy, they got quite tipsy on drink and imported buffalo steaks and fell in a heap on Sam’s bed where they made love until the rising sun was placing streaky yellow fingers across the teak floor.  They then showered together and headed for Simba Brothers and a day of court cases.

            Betty was in her home office of an almost predawn morning, writing furiously on her new book.  She heard the president’s helicopter come to life, its engines whining.  She ran to the window in time to see her husband board, his Masai behind him.  She pulled her robe around her and ran to the front of the mansion.  She waved furiously but it had lifted into the sky and was headed for the airstrip.  She ran screaming to Staci’s room.  Staci was in her bed catching some last minute winks before having breakfast and heading for classes. 

“Where in the hell is your father going, Staci?  He just left in the helicopter.”

“He’s going to Botswana.  He told us last night but you weren’t there for the whole dinner hour.  You went to your office, remember, Betty?” asked her alarmed stepdaughter.

Betty sat on Staci’s bed and began to weep.  Staci put her arms around her.

“Let me take you to the doctor, Betty, I think you have that post partum stuff again.”

            Lachlan arrived at the mansion before eight that morning.  He carried his medical bag and went to Betty and Shane’s room.  There Staci sat with the stretched out Betty. 

“Betty, I’m going to give you a sedative but you are not into the post partum psychosis.  You are beyond that time.  This is just the fact that you can’t deal with your marriage.  You will have to get a grip or screw up the whole thing and you have too wonderful a family to go that route,” said Lachlan, his face immeasurably stern. 

Staci turned away before he could see the tears rolling down her cheeks.  “Daddy is home every night, Lachlan.”

“I know that, Staci.  Don’t worry about this.  Have a great day at school.”

Lachlan’s heart ached for the lovely young cub whose caring and empathetic nature was so like her maternal grandmother – Cynthia Cheetah. 

            Shane, the Masai guards before and after him, boarded Simba Two.  The press corps was present.  Among them was Jane, who sat far to the back and didn’t look up at his presence.  She sat, as always, studying her junket papers issued by the State House to all media accompanying the President on a trip.  He sat in his usual place in the front section of the plane and studied his own paper work.

            The crockery sounded and the metal utensils clattered.  It was lunch hour in the Watering Hole Pub and I had met Bertram Baboon there.  OKAPI’S, our place of choice had been full with no reservations. 

“These crudités lack the finesse of OKAPI’S and I need an Excedrin to suffer this noise level,” announced Bertram, popping a rather large piece of celery between his teeth and crunching loudly.

“It is a bit on the maddening side in here,” I agreed. 

“Tell me about Betty.  I saw her briefly at the arts council meeting and she looked simply dreadful.”

“She thinks Shane is having an affair although he’s home each evening,” I told him fearing to say more should I reveal any of Lachlan’s details. 

“Oh my, my, Shane Simba is having an affair?  Who ever heard of such?” laughed Bertram in a voice redolent with derision. 

“She believes it and so in her mind it is a fact,” I said, beckoning the waiter for another round of Bloody Marys. 

“Our Betty is not the most stable thing in the jungle.  She certainly has her ups and downs.  Of course, she chooses the most difficult male in Kenya to bed and wed.”

“I do think that Shane provides her with a very good family life.  He simply loves his kids and hers.”

“Of course, except for Arlon, they are his nephews also.  Oh dear, what does it all matter?  Betty just can’t seem to get her train on the precise track.”

I asked of his comings and goings and he told me of his plan to join with Roy Lee and Gloria Chimpo in writing another theater play.  The one he wrote for the arts center, with Roy Lee playing the lead, is going to be produced on Broadway.  This will probably heap more artistic accolades on Bertram’s talented head.  Another tidbit from the desk of Baboon-Simba Studios is that Roy Lee is preparing to play King Leonidas of Greece in The Three Hundred Spartans and Micah Mbube is set to star in CHICAGO which will co-star Simone Serval and Chloe Cougar - so much for the world of the artsy fartsy. 

            Jane sat with the other reporters in the bar at the Sun Hotel in Gaborone the capital city of Botswana.  They were in the midst of their accustomed spell of evening camaraderie which usually marks an official trip.  Jane sipped at her wine and waited for the proper time to make her exit.  At ten o’clock she got up, begging work on her lap top as an excuse.  She made her way to the elevator, got off two floors below her target and walked the stairs to the floor where Shane Simba’s presidential suite was guarded by the Masai.   She knocked softly.  He let her in and held her tightly to him. 

            Betty decided, in Shane’s absence, to go on another brief AIDS trip to a small village outside of Nairobi.  She went with the group, which included Mildred Lyon, Dr. Cary Caracal Simba, her step daughter, Staci and of course, Dr. Juma Mnyama.  It was a weekend jaunt only.  When they had gotten set up in the village, the people in long lines for their injections and medications, she realized that Staci had replaced her as Juma’s main assistant.  Staci and Juma worked easily and well together.  Betty felt left out of the picture to some degree.  Naturally, everyone was very caring toward her but she felt slightly disenfranchised.  She shared a tent with Staci and felt sure her stepdaughter would hear her stifling her sobs into the uncomfortable pillows at night. 

            Shane lay on the bed next to Jane, his arm encircling her closely – stoking her hair.  It was their last night in Botswana. 

“I wish there was some way I could see or phone you in the Mara, Janie.”

“We will be found out and will hurt others badly.  I don’t want this for us, Shane.”

“I live with the fear that you will find someone to love and marry and I won’t have you anymore.”

She rolled over, putting her face close to his.  “Shane, I will never marry.  I knew I wouldn’t a long time ago.  I never loved a male lion and my parents wanted this for me.  Now I do and it is good that I can be with him at all.”

“You’ve never said you love me, Janie.  This is the closest you have come to saying this.”

“Did I have to say anything?  Isn’t it obvious?”

“I am so accustomed to frivolous sorts that I have never really known generosityof spirit and true ease of character before this, forgive me, Janie.”

“Shane, life is no fairy tale.  We both know this.  The fact that we have found each other and can be together in anyway is lucky at this stage in our lives.”

“Janie, I have never loved like this before.  I have told multiple females that I loved them, never having a clue to what it really feels like.  You are right; we are blessed to be able to have each other at all.”

“I will always be there for you even if we can’t even touch paws most days.  You will have my love and know wherever we are, we are in touch emotionally.”

“The same holds for me, Janie.  I can’t even describe my feelings for you – words utterly fail me.”

The lovers in the hotel in Botswana

            Betty returned home before Shane by a few hours.  She was depressed but went to the nursery and had Solly with her when he stepped off the elevator.  He greeted her warmly, taking his son from her arms and holding him.  The family gathered at the dinner table that evening.  Betty noticed Shane was happy and upbeat.  He had his usual discourse with the children.  Betty and Staci told of their weekend AIDS trip, Sean discussed his latest soccer achievement. Joshua, the bookworm, discussed his latest read with Shane and Jason prattled on about a coming DVD movie.  They decided to go to the bush house for the coming weekend. 

Shane Simba with his son, Solly, at the bush house....

            That night, he made love to her with the essentials still missing emotionally.  He then rolled away from her and fell into a deep sleep.  She lay, staring into the darkened room wondering where her paradise had gone to.  The Masai were going about their pre-dawn chorals before she slept.