SHANE'S I.O.U.
Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don't unravel.
Author Unknown
Shane was in the mansion ahead of his wife. He checked his watch regularly until the elevator door opened and he heard her laughing gaily in her husky tone to several of the staff. He relaxed perceptibly at the sound of his beloved Alexandra’s voice. She called for Tanya and Sacha to be brought in for their parent’s kicking back time in the early evening. Giving Shane a lingering kiss, she began to giggle again.
“I’m terribly sorry I was so late, Luv, but Bipsy Black Mamba, Michelle Green Mamba and Cora Cobra wanted to chat. They are really very cute ladies and I enjoyed them immensely. By the by, Michelle brought us a cheesecake. ”
“I saw them all throughout the day as you led them from one place to another. How did the docent classes go?”
“Swimmingly, darling. Papa would be so proud of me,” she giggled. “He must be smiling down on me or he actually may be frowning.”
“Why?”
“I held my own with the deadliest snakes in Africa when he had always told me to run like demons were after me and hope I could make it to the house before they struck.”
“I am sure your Papa told you to run from lions as well and look how miserably you’ve failed that test,” laughed Shane, standing and lighting a cigarette.
“No, Luv,” she said with widened blue-green eyes. “With lions he told us to always make the stance.”
Shane crossed his arms and looked amused.
“The stance? What is the stance, pray tell?”
“You hold yourself very still, almost freeze in your tracks and then you move your arms about shouting and try to scare the lion. You NEVER run from a lion said my Papa.”
Shane threw his head back and laughed heartily at his wife, her tall, slender figure standing on spike heels and flailing her arms wildly over her head.
“Why are you laughing, Luv? Would that not have given you pause if you had come upon me in the bush?” she asked, beginning to laugh uncontrollably. “I’m speaking of the old days, mind you.”
“I would have been taken slightly aback if I had seen you that way and probably been aware of a boner coming on,” he chuckled, taking his wife in his arms.
“You mean?” she clapped her hand over her mouth and giggled some more.
“Yeah, I mean you would have turned me on then as you do now.”
“Oh my God,” she laughed. "Papa said nothing about confronting male lions with boners."
Two nannies arrived carrying the couple’s babies and they settled down to drinks and a special time of communing with their children.
Later when the infants had been given their bottles by their parents and taken to bed by their nannies, Shane and Alexandra engaged in the special time they loved – when they could commune with each other in real intimacy and very personal conversation. This is when they shared with each other tidbits from their youth and other areas of their lives before meeting each other. This night Shane had a thought.
“Alex, Sloane tells me that the sisters at St. Mary’s School for Troubled Felines are doing wonders with his daughter, Georgy. She is even living with a lioness nun. Since we are so happy and I have to pinch myself sometimes, I thought it might be good to throw some of my wealth God’s way. What do you think, my love?”
“Why don’t you endow our church and the school, Luv? That should suffice for the time being,” she suggested.
“Remind me tomorrow, darling, please. I’ll write a check for the school and call Sylvia Cougar who originally built our church. She is on the board of directors for the First Church of the Ascending Predator. She will tell me how I can help there.”
Shane and Alexandra Simba out and about the Mara......
The following day in the State House, I spoke with a very grateful Sylvia Cougar.
“Syl, Shane wants to speak with you. He wants to endow the church with some additional funding,” I told my long time leopardess friend.
“Oh, Maury that will be wonderful. The church has grown so that we can hardly cram the members into the main sanctuary now. We could use funds for expansion.”
That same afternoon, Sloane Simba drove to the home of Sister Leonine and told her of his brother’s wish to fund a project of choice for the school. The lioness conferred with the school’s board which consisted of Mildred Lyon and Cynthia Cheetah. It was agreed to build a new gymnasium. The students wanted to engage in volley ball and basket ball. A cricket team was also planned for the school. Lewis Lyon, another wealthy and contented power house, contributed the materials and construction free of charge.
Betty, despite attempting to make up for her unfortunate visit to Shane Simba with Jack, was making little headway. There was a chill emanating from the lion writer which Betty couldn’t get a bead on.
“Jack, are you still angry with me?” she asked one afternoon after the two had retired from their gardening chores and were having refreshments on Jack’s veranda.
“I am working through it, Betty, but the fact that you still harbor a great desire for your ex-husband rankles me. Add that to the fact that you parlayed your angst into a flimsy excuse and went to him in a request that seriously involved me and your son. I’m sure Solly would have preferred that you not indicate to his father that he wanted another lion to adopt him. It’s plain to see that Solly adores his dad.”
“Jack, I’ve said I was sorry. Can you drop it?” she snapped, lighting a cigarette and blowing the smoke through her nose.
“I’m trying, Betty, but your duplicity still gets in the way.”
“Let’s go to New York for a week. My apartment is waiting and the change will do us good. The cubs can stay with Shane and Alex,” suggested Betty, a real fear gripping her.
“I have to work on a special report for the Daily this week, Betty. Sorry but I can’t make it.”
“I think I’ll go, Jack.”
She was hoping he would tell her not to…..to stay, instead, with him.
He didn’t do any thing of the kind, merely said, “You need a break. It seems things are getting to you these days, Betty.”
You just don’t see too many poufs among male lions, even if they are gay. Lachlan is a very masculine type, despite his sexual persuasion. We only had one of those in our neighborhood – the lion ballet dancer, Jean Pierre de Leon. Now we have two. Leah Simba, now heading her mother’s fashion empire JAGGERS, has hired a new designer. He is a lion named Duke - very fancy, prancing about and filled with tremendous talent where design is concerned. He has acquired the hands that are becoming all the rage these days. On Duke they are a special thing, flitting about with pinky curled as he flamboyantly speaks of his male and female wear. Oddly enough, he lives with cosmetic surgeon, Todd Tigeres who has never been thought to be gay. The fact that Duke is an Asian lion from the Ghir Forest in India could account for this odd couple living arrangement. The Tigeres clan also hails from that area. On the other hand, the two might just well be lovers. Lachlan, having no interest in clothes and eschewing the getting of hands, quickly grew tired of the subject of Duke and Todd. But I digress as is often the case. JAGGERS threw a gigantic soiree to introduce Duke and his line of clothing. It was one of the most well attended parties of this year. Even Alexandra and Shane attended. JAGGERS has moved to a fabulous new building in the section of the Mara called ‘down town’ by the locals, due to the large scale building of offices, new courthouse, hotel, apartment complexes and a mall by contracting magnate, Lewis Lyon. The soiree was also a sort of elegant housewarming for the new headquarters of one of the first successful businesses in the Masai Mara. Lachlan and I marveled at the array of food presented. One of the reasons that I so love my Lachlan is the fact that, despite loathing the art of fancy dress, he will don whatever necessary to accompany me to those bashes requiring such. Staci Simba was there with Alexandra and Shane. Georgy Simba walked the runways in a number of youth oriented fashions designed by Janice, Leah and Duke.
Georgy Simba on the runway..... head honcho of JAGGERS, Leah Simba and her fiance, Juma Mnyama......
Alexandra and Shane Simba sitting with sister-in-law, Georgy Simba at the party....
Janice Jaguar Simba with Bernard and Sylvia Cougar
in row behind them.....
Betty, after taking her cubs for a stay with their father, sadly and with great worry, boarded a Kenya Airways jumbo jet for New York City and a stay in her pied-à-terre.
Betty took a taxi from JFK to midtown Manhattan where her apartment awaited her. She was working on a new book and planned to consult with her editor the next morning. It was late when she unlocked the door and made her way inside. She had forgotten how much she liked this place. She made herself a drink and stood looking out the window at the lights of Manhattan, the East River Bridge decorated with streaming headlights from the traffic. Finally, she poured another cognac and went to bed with a book she had brought. .
Betty in her flat in Manhattan.......
Duke, the new designer at JAGGERS...
“Oh my, this line of jackets is working my last nerve,” complained Duke the lion designer as he entered Leah Simba’s office at JAGGERS.
“Show me,” she said.
They stood looking at the sketches and fabric swatches for the Christmas line of male and female jackets.
“The party went well, I thought,” said Leah.
“Yes, girlfriend, it was a divine happening. Your fiancé reminds me of my father. Very rigid,” reported Duke.
“In what sense, Duke? Juma and I have a wonderful time together,” said Leah, rather annoyed at an observation she neither wanted nor requested.
“He seems very stiff….nice looking but stiff. That uncle of yours is to die for though.”
“Which uncle, Duke? I have many. Our pride is very large with mostly males.”
“El Presidente…..oh soooo to die for.”
“Uncle Shane is great looking,” she agreed, still pissed at the put down of Juma.
“He wears clothes like a dream. Your dad is also a looker.”
“Don’t you think Juma is as handsome as they are?”
“No way, José,” he replied and was out of the room with his swatches and sketches before she could address that particular insult.
A new and elaborate home was being constructed by Lewis Lyon Construction. Gossip was rampant around the Mara as to whose it could be. Lewis’ crew was silent on the subject and the guessing game went on, the worst rumor being that it was Shane Simba’s designed for trysts out of sight of his wife. Those who espoused that theory knew little of what went on within the inner sanctum of the lion president’s marriage. He had just had his semi-annual physical under the auspices of Drs. Frank and Ted Tigeres.
“Shane, I can’t believe my own eyes. Your ulcers are almost gone entirely. Keep up the good work,” Frank had told him.
“Tell Alex to keep up hers, Frank. She is the reason I am mending so well. I suppose mine is an example of a happy guy has few emotional or physical problems,” was Shane’s reply. “I feel complete peace and contentment with my wife, Frank.”
“That’s so good to hear, Shane. You deserve it. And Alexandra is a wonderful woman. You two are lucky to have each other. I am a great believer in happy marriages. You know, Shane, we tigers are supposed to be solitary and only get together for reasons of procreation. But my wife, Melba, and I fell in love early on. We have the best marriage. I love Mel with the same intensity as I did when I first mated with her in the Ghir Forest in India.”
“Did you come to Kenya because you and your wife had a different arrangement than other tigers?”
“Yes, we did. And I have never regretted a second of coming here….neither has Mel.”
“You are a wonderful asset, Frank, as are all of your family,” said Shane.
Betty was making a drink in her living area when the door bell rang. She had come from a long day of working with her editor in her Manhattan office. Betty looked through the peephole and opened the door with arms already held wide.
“Jack, I am so glad to see you, darling,” she said, holding him tightly.
“I couldn’t let you enjoy the glories of fall in Central Park and not be here with you, Betty,” said Jack Tarzan, as he was drawn into the cozy living room by the ecstatic Betty.
“We will go there tomorrow, first thing. We have the rest of the week. I am so happy to see you, Jack.”
“Same here, Betty. You left a gaping hole in my house when you left it. I love you.”
“And I love you, my Jack, I swear I do.”