Ashley Lyon had just returned from a four day air safari to the Great Rift Valley.  He threw off his jacket and bounded up the stairs to find his pregnant wife, Staci, arranging potted plants on the sun warmed sill of the new nursery she was preparing for their cubs.  There were tiny pink geraniums and tender fingers of yellow bougainvillea in the white wrought iron holders.  She ran to greet him throwing her long arms about his neck. 

 

“How are you, Ash?  If you’re too tired, I can draw you a bath.”

 

“If you will join me, Staci, a bath would be marvelous,” he said, giving a loving pinch to her fanny. 

 

“If you will promise not to stare at my expanding belly, I would love to join you,” she giggled. 

 

“Maybe I won’t look but I can’t guarantee a thing,” he laughed nuzzling her soft neck. 

 

Staci and Ashley in a post safari bath tub.....

 

            Vapors rose slowly from the hot tub water that Staci had sprinkled rose petals in and around.  The two were immersed in bubble bath foam, Staci with her head on her husband’s chest.   

 

“Ashley, I never realized what a caring animal you are before you helped Maurice bring Alex back to Daddy,” she said, caressing his shoulder with a slim hand.  “You are wonderful and amazing.”

 

“I am absolutely full of surprises you’ll find,” he chuckled. 

 

“I do love you so,” she purred reaching up to kiss him. 

 

“I love you too, Staci, I really do and you can take that to the bank.”

---

 Shane and his wife, Alexandra, at the bush house......

 

 

            Alexandra Simba stood in the family room at the bush house.  It was a Saturday evening.  Shane, still dressed for the two sets of tennis he had played with Lewis Lyon earlier, stood looking over the newspapers on his desk. 

 

“I read a terrible thing in my newest book, Luv.  Wild lions are killing Mozambican refugees as they come through Kruger Park into South Africa.  One lion strolled through a village with a refugee in his mouth.  Isn’t that bloody awful?” she asked. 

 

Shane had only half an ear for what his wife was saying, his real interest was in perusing the gossip columns for his son Sean’s latest high jinks, hoping there wouldn’t be any. 

 

“That’s pretty gross,” he agreed, flipping to another paper. “They are very wild in Kruger – the lions are.”

 

“Can’t you find a lion in South Africa and encourage him to run for the presidency there as you helped that Pete chap in Tanzania?  Maybe if a lion was the president, they would become civilized in Kruger and the killings would stop.”

 

“I can’t tamper in Nelson Mandela’s country, darling – he’s too good a friend.  He would hardly appreciate my doing so.”

 

“He’s retired, Luv,” argued Alexandra. 

 

“I still can’t meddle on his turf and by the time he’s gone, I probably will be dead too.”

 

“Shane, Mandela is almost ninety.”

 

“But I’m a lion, Alex, with a much shorter life span than a human,” he said, still gazing intently through his newspapers having tossed out that unpalatable zinger. 

 

He looked up at her sharp intake of breath.  Alexandra had one hand over her mouth and was moaning as she collapsed to a sitting position on the floor.  She let out a terrible cry, one of the utmost devastation and heart rending sadness.  He ran to her.  He lifted her up and held her. 

 

“Alex, what’s wrong, darling?”

 

She held her arms tightly around his neck, her tears wetting his face that touched hers. 

 

“I haven’t let myself think of that, Shane.  I’ve kept it at bay in the furthest corners of my mind – until you just spoke the horror,” she sobbed.  “I cannot live without you and I know you will die long before me.”

 

He stroked her hair and said soothing things but there was no respite from her pain. 

 

“I’m a very young lion, Alex, and you are only twenty-four.  I am in my prime, darling,” he crooned but her weeping never lessened. 

 

“Will our children die sooner as well?  I can’t stand the pain of being without you, Shane.”

 

            Toward the early hours of morning and just before dawn, she finally fell asleep on his shoulder in their bed.  He slipped from the covers and went to the balcony where he lit a cigarette and watched the sun come up, listening to the soulful morning songs of the Masai moran.  Neither he nor Alexandra had ever imagined loving each other as intensely or on such a colossal scale as they do now upon first meeting getting married.  He had never known anything like this before and she had expressed the same to him.  They were like the proverbial scissors – neither part functioning well without the other. He tossed his cigarette in the hedge and lit another. 

---

 

            Alexandra Simba, a usually lighthearted young woman, was almost ghost like in her miasma of melancholy as she came into her office at the State House on Monday morning.  I was there with Bernice Bear going over some invitations for a coming brunch for the Parliament wives. .She is quite forthright and made no bones about the reason for her misery. 

 

“Maurice, do you know what a lion’s life span would be – oh saying he has taken marvelous care of himself and is not in the wild?” she asked, her sea colored eyes misting. 

 

Bernice and I shot a quick look at each other.  We knew well where this one came from.  I let Bernice handle the poignant query.

 

“Dear, if you are referring to your husband, I should think all old statistics would be null and void.  He is young and strong with all the luxuries to keep him fit.  However, if you want to really know these things, I would suggest speaking with his doctor, Frank Tigeres,” suggested the kindly Bernice. 

 

“I have not allowed myself to think of the differences in human and lion longevity and now,” she said, beginning to cry.  “I know I will be a widow who is still young and will never find anyone else that I can love like Shane Simba.  I adore him and simply cannot lose him.”

 

With that declaration, she sank on the couch and broke into wet sobs.  Bernice, always Johnny-on-the-spot, gave her a Kleenex laced with Aloe Vera. 

 

“Bernice has made a practical suggestion but can I make another?” and then before she had a chance to acquiesce, said,” Betty, being a chimpanzee, has something of the same longevity as a human.  You might ask her how she deals with the matter of being wed to lions, Alexandra.”

 

Poor Alexandra managed to get hold of her emotions and thank us both.  She took the rest of the day off for personal reasons.  Bernice and I knew what they were.  She would follow our suggestions most efficiently. 

---

 

            Betty and Jack Tarzan were working in their garden when an official limousine pulled up and discharged Alexandra Simba.  Jack had taken a day off from the Daily having worked overtime on the labor disputes in Nairobi all last week. 

 

“Betty, I think we have an official visitor,” he said.  “It’s Alexandra Simba.”

 

They both went to the veranda to greet the first lady.  She looked as if she had been crying all night and Betty wondered if something was wrong with Solly or if Shane was engaged in his usual.  Jack shook her hand and Betty gave her a hug and asked the first thing on her mind.

 

“Is Solly okay?”

 

“Yes, he is fine and looking forward to Friday, Betty.  I came for an entirely different reason.  I wanted to ask you something that might be on your mind as well,” explained Alexandra, casting a rather embarrassed look at Jack who took the hint and said the garden was calling him. 

 

Alexandra seeks comfort from Betty Chimpo Tarzan.....

 

            The drink tray arrived with home made cheese biscuits.  The two ladies settled down for a chat.  Alexandra, amid quiet spells of weeping, spilled out her concerns and sorrows to the chimpanzee who had married four lions, among them Alexandra’s husband.  When the young woman had finished telling of her worries regarding life spans, Betty placed a hand on hers. 

 

“Alex, I am thirty-eight and Jack is probably seven.  Chimps live to be almost as old as humans.  I can’t think about these things though.  I am pregnant again and we are so happy about the cub.  My only advice is to take it a day at a time.  If you think too deeply about it, you will go mad.”

 

“My babies look almost entirely human but they are already walking prematurely.  Will they die early also?” asked Alexandra, not to Betty in particular.  She was looking across the veranda at the crest of the Cholula Hills beyond.

 

“Alexandra, you must not think on these things, they are symptomatic of the new age we live in with all of these interspecies marriages.  Please take it easy and don’t drive yourself mad with the idea,” advised Betty, patting Alexandra’s hand. 

---

 

Dr. Frank Tigeres takes the time to soothe Alexandra....

 

 

            It was Dr. Frank Tigeres who took time from his busy schedule to seat the forlorn Alexandra in his office and listen to her concerns, finally giving her some sense of ease.  When asked the same questions, Frank threw back his great tiger head and gave a loud chuff. 

 

“My dear, Alexandra, your husband is no ordinary lion.  He impregnated a human being naturally and has out lived bullets, car and air crashes along with multiple bleeding ulcers.  Do not worry about Shane Simba.  He will see you in your grave.”

 

Alexandra’s lovely face brightened for the first time in days. 

 

“Do you really think so, Frank?”

 

“Yes, indeed I do, young lady.  We animals cannot possibly have the same statistics regarding mortality that we once had.  We are entirely new animals these days in this society.  We have advanced medicines, technology, healthy diets, luxurious living – the whole ball of wax,” enthused the tiger physician. “Now mind you, if Shane Simba was covered with ticks and parasites, had to bring down a buffalo or fight off other males from his pride, he might end up in an early grave.  However, in today’s world, he will probably outlive you.”

 

Alexandra felt world’s better.  She went to the mall with her guards and shopped in Chanel, owned by Gina Genet Lyon, for two hours.  The two good friends chatted as Gina suggested items to Alexandra.  When Shane’s wife told Gina of her worries about longevity, the pert genet gave her silvery laugh. 

 

“Lewis, being a lion, has a much longer life span than my species, Alex.  I don’t think about it because as Frank Tigeres told you, things are all so different these days for animals in Kenya.”

---

 

            The elevator doors to the living quarters opened and Alexandra Simba, followed by two guards holding multiple shopping bags, emerged.  Shane came out to greet his wife and hand her a delicate stemmed glass of Pinot Grigio, her drink of choice. 

 

“You look better, darling, have you eased your mind,” he asked, putting his arm around her waist and guiding her to the library where a bright fire crackled in the grate.  The twins were there, playing on the Persian carpet with various toys.  Solly was at the desk writing an essay for his English class. 

“I spoke with Frank Tigeres and then I visited Betty.  She has something of the same problem, being long lived and married to a lion.  Shane gave a low laugh.

 

“I never even thought of the fact that chimpanzees have lives as long as humans when I was married to her,” he mused.

 

“Didn’t you two discuss the same thing?” asked Alexandra, truly puzzled. 

 

“No, Alex, I honestly think that the old adage is true about humans being the only ones to fret about mortality.  We animals just never have – oh we are aware of it but don’t seem to obsess on the subject as people do.”

 

“I wasn’t obsessing about my death, Shane…..only yours,” she said sadly, putting a cigarette to her lips. 

 

He lit it with his lighter and kissed her lips which were trembling slightly with further emotion.

 

“Alex, you and I will have to live our lives day by day.  Husbands and wives never are sure when death will separate them.  Please don’t worry about this.  I wish I had never brought it up.”

 

“I have been keeping it away from my conscious mind since we married.  I suppose it is good it finally emerged,” she said, picking up their daughter Tanya, who was wailing over her brother taking possession of a favored trinket.

 

Alex with daughter, Tanya....

 

 

            Later Ashley and Staci came for dinner and spoke happily of their coming litter.  She had just been for her appointment at the clinic and her first ultrasound revealed two cubs