Maurice & Friends

Sloane Simba ordered four new suits from JAGGERS, bought a bottle of Chanel men’s cologne and went to view his newly allotted land in the savanna. He drove there with Caroline Cheetah and her cub. He had never thought to be pleased with his half brother, Shane Simba, but that was beginning to change. Shane had placed the greatest confidence in him by making him head honcho of the powerful Simba Brothers law firm.

“My goodness, Sloane, you’ve just been done a service by your nemesis. How are you going to handle that?” teased Caroline in her standard acid, half mocking tone.

“By giving it all I’ve got, Caroline. I’m sure you would agree that this is the best approach.”

“Being the head of a law firm like Simba Brothers can be even more lucrative than the vice presidency.”

“That’s what I know.”

“And this land?”

“I plan to build a house like no other and live out here.”

A miffed Alexander Simba complained to Sam Simba about his being bypassed in favor of Sloane. An equally pissed Sam realized that Shane had completely sidestepped him in making this decision. When Sam phoned Sefu, he was told that Sefu had not been consulted but thought it was a good move. On top of the frostiness on the part of his wife, Sam was not having the best start to his year. His nose was terribly out of joint. He went to Betty’s office downstairs and sat down, asking Bernice Bear if she minded if he had a private chat with his ex-wife turned sister-in-law.

“Betty, Shane is getting very grandiose these days. He made a big decision about Simba Brothers without consulting me. He, Roy Lee, Sefu and I are the titular heads of the Simba Pride Corporation. I really don’t appreciate him going over my head even if Sef approves.”

“Sam, why don’t you speak to him about it? This is an area where I have no business treading.”

“I suppose I could but things are getting better between us. I hate to mess it up.”

“I think it’s better to get it out in the open, Sam.”

“You could be right.”

The next weekend, Betty and Shane went to Mombasa where Shane was an honorary participant in the Kenyan Rowing Club’s annual races. He surfed and wind sailed, getting full coverage by the media and paparazzi.

Caught by the paparazzi, the president enjoys a weekend in Mombasa.....

That same weekend, Christine Cheetah Mbube sent Chloe Cougar a contract for a play they had selected. It was a comedy which would star Chloe and her two leopard actor pals. Chloe was delighted to try the stage. If the weekend wasn’t jam packed enough with excitement, Charles Mountain Lion chose this time to seek his estranged wife and get a bead on her situation. Chloe was drunk when Charles called from his best friend, Carson Cougar’s home.

“Chloe, I’ve come to the Mara to either take you back to Montana or move here,” announced Charles.

“Oh, Charles,” she wailed. “I came home because we weren’t working out. You’d be miserable living in East Africa.”

They had an unpleasant conservation. When she rang off with Charles she managed to down three more Bloody Marys and call Roy Lee.

“Roy, Charles wants to move here,” she wailed through the phone.

“Charles?” asked Roy Lee, who having other fish to fry had forgotten the name of Chloe’s new spouse.

“Yes, the cougar I married, you remember, Roy. I don’t want him to move here,” she whined.

“Not my problem, babe,” he said. “I’ve got to run.”

Sloane went to collect his daughter, Georgy from Caitlin. Steven was there. Caitlin went upstairs as Steve told Sloane of their coming cub. Sloane stood stark still for a moment, letting the news digest.

“Almighty shit,” he roared. “This bloody pride is going to be the laughing stock of the world before it’s over.”

Steven held up both paws. “Don’t over react, Sloane. It is something of a private matter.”

“That damn wife of Shane’s wrote all about her shit with Shane and Sam in a fucking best seller that’s probably in its twentieth printing as we speak. “

“Sloane, take it easy……”

“Let me make a suggestion, Steve. Why don’t all the Simba males contribute to a sperm bank where all their wives and female friends can dabble? It will be like the Simba pride version of: Who’s Your Daddy.”

“Look, cool your jets, Sloane. Things worked out well for Sam and Shane.”

“Worked out well, my ass! Shane and Sam’s kids don’t know whether they’re cousins, brothers and sisters or their own grandpas,” shouted Sloane.

Sloane turned on his heel and stomped out, forgetting Georgy.

Sloane stepped onto the deck of Wally’s Starbucks and joined Caroline Cheetah and little Shane, Jr.

“Where’s Georgy?” asked Caroline.

“I forgot to bring her.”

“I guess daddy world was fleeting for you, huh?”

“No, Caroline, I got a shock when I went to pick her up at Caitlin’s”

“Care to vent?” she asked, lighting a cigarette.

“Caitlin is pregnant again by Steve.”

Caroline’s reaction to this tidbit was visceral. She doubled over in laughter.

“Sloane, what can I say? The Simba males are at it again. Cross breeding with their females.”

“Don’t rub it in, Caroline. My sense of humor has taken a hit for the time being.”

She noticed his forlorn gaze and wondered at the burst of tenderness she felt for him. For Caroline, these gentle emotions were not the norm. She placed a paw on his strapping jean clad leg.

“Let’s go to my place, Luv. We’ll get some drinks and talk it out.”

“Great idea.”

He paid the tab and they left as the sun’s orb was lying low over the bush scrub.

Shane had taken to the bed on the Sunday night after the busy Mombasa weekend. He begged fatigue and Betty clucked over him like a demented hen. She adjusted covers, which he promptly kicked off, brought thick soups which he rejected in part and trundled strong drinks to his bed. Finally, she realized, there was something going on beside weariness.

“Shane, darling, you seem more depressed than tired.”

“Betty, am I becoming a tyrant? Sam accused me of this in a phone call today.”

She took his paw in her hand and stroked it.

“Shane, you are not a tyrant by any means. I think you have so much on your plate with the presidency that you are just dealing with things on your own. You are still getting your presidential sea legs, my love.”

“What did I ever do without you, Fifi? I am mind boggled as to how I ever got along without you at my side.”

“Like a mother?” she teased, alluding to his accusations of a few days before.

He jumped from the bed, pulling her toward their marble bath. He turned on the shower, disrobing himself and Betty.

“This will show you what a maternal figure you are to me,” he breathed into her neck as he pushed her under the warm and water and made love to her.

Christine and Micah Mbube had their single cub on an early morning. Micah drove Christine, who had a history of easy delivery, to the Exotic Animal Clinic in a fast paced automobile. Three hours later small but lusty Malik Dorian Mbube made his debut. Malik is Arabic for king. Mbube is the Xhosa word for lion. So in effect, the small cub that lay nestled on Christine’s breast as his enchanted father watched had been named King Lion, with a bow to his maternal grandfather. Micah was the happiest male about. He passed out endless cigars at Baboon-Simba Studios and saw his wife each night of her two day stay. Then it was home for the lyrical couple. Their first visitor was Leah Lyon, their neighbor who brought beautiful embossed cashmere blankets for the new cub. Micah and Christine broke out the champagne while Leah held and admired their baby. I gifted Christine and Micah with a sophisticated British pram. Christine had become a dear friend and invaluable to me as my arts center director. Micah, as stage star, was the main attraction.

Charles Mountain Lion arrived at Chloe’s penthouse on an evening when Sloane Simba had called. Sloane sat with sprawling muscular legs on an eclectic sofa in a corner of Chloe’s den. Charles was somewhat taken aback when he saw him sitting their in his splendid insolence. Chloe, who was three sheets to the strongest wind in the Everglades, pointed a lacquered paw at Sloane and announced him as her new ‘friend’. That word has many connotations depending on the situation. Charles conception was right on target. He made motions toward Sloane which the lion took less than seriously.

“Are you coming between my wife and me?” he asked, approaching the sofa.

“If I am, it can all go away - as I can,” announced Sloane, standing and towering over the cougar.

Sloane had enjoyed the lusty aspects of Chloe and her sex drive but he could easily divorce himself from the pleasures, if needed. Charles, seeing the lion’s great bulk and height, had lost his fancy for skirmish. It was not to be the embattled and passionate struggle for her that Chloe may have envisioned in her movie star mind. Sloane tipped an imaginary hat to Charles and left. It is probably not a difficult guess as to where he went from there. Caroline Cheetah opened her door and bed to him.

Sloane Simba at Chloe's when Charles arrives.....

Tigger Tigeres parent’s brought him home to the Mara. Tigger had decided that medicine was not the ticket for him. He was an athlete at his very core. He had found early on that the premedical degree was more than he wanted or could achieve. Lachlan always tells me that medicine is something that one must want to study from one’s earliest days – almost the womb. Tigger is the son of the wonderful Dr. Frank and Melba Tigeres. I cannot imagine Frank or Melba ever forcing one of their offspring into a mold that they rejected. With that premise, Tigger came home for an extended stay and restructuring of his educational plans. He immediately went to Junior Lyon who put him on the schedule for the coming junior soccer team. The Tigeres’ leniency did not preclude their requirements that their young get advanced educations. All sorts of ideas were tossed out, the main one being Junior Lyon’s alma mater in South Africa.

“Daddy, Tigger asked me to go out,” stated Staci Simba. “Can I go even if Arlon isn’t here?”

It was a hard call for Shane Simba. He loved his beautiful daughter and wanted only the best for her. Nevertheless, Betty had made him realize that she was growing up and very trustworthy. He took a few minutes to answer, tossing aside his visions of rape, but Betty nudged him discreetly.

“Staci, I trust you on your first date. I know Tigger and his family. Just keep a good head on your shoulders and….have a great time.”

Staci gave her father an ardent hug. “Daddy, I love you so much.”

“Have fun, Staci, don’t be too late.”

When Staci had left, bounding from the room, Betty hugged her husband.

“Darling, that was nothing short of magnificent. I know how hard that must have been.”

“It was a mental goat fuck, Fifi.".

Sloane Simba was as brilliant as his half brother Shane. He made good and then some on the leadership of Simba Brothers law firm. He set to work revamping the morale that had been decimated by the difficult Stuart. He hired two new attorneys. By the end of the month the firm was working like a fine tuned engine. Shane had called him to compliment him on his work. He hired Clint Cougar to design a state of the art home in the bush land the pride had bought for Stuart but turned into a bonus for Sloane. He put his home in the Mombasa Road Estates on the market. The wheels were turning, the motion set for a new Simba to become an eventual power house.

Chloe went into rehearsals with her two leopard buddies. The production was to be The Apple Tree, a comedy adapted from Mark Twain’s Eve’s Diaries. Her husband, Charles, not wanting to compete with the African lion in romantic battles, returned to Montana and filed for divorce.

Sarah Lee Simba happily buzzed around her house, putting the finishing touches on the changes she had made once her problematical son, Stuart, his lionesses and offspring had moved out. She planned for her first pride Sunday brunch since before Stuart had arrived. She hummed as she worked.

Leander Simba had one offspring that seemed to be on top of the world and several who were not. Alexander was furious and resentful at Shane giving Sloane the leadership of the Simba Brothers law firm. Steven seemed disconcerted, abstracted and distant these days. His mother had no idea that he had impregnated Sloane’s ex-wife. Sidney was in rehab; carefully pulling one of the clinic’s shrinks down with him. Dr. Carey Caracal, under Sidney’s auspices, was back on cocaine.

The new issue of ANIMAL FORTUNE 500 hit the stands. Within it's covers was announced the fact that Lewis Lyon was now wealthier than the Leoparde family.