SONNY
A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty.
Author Unknown
Sorry I have had some delays of late in telling you of my friends and their lives. I lost my father recently and although I didn’t really know him that well, I felt the loss of what might have been. We had reconnected in recent years and I was in rather frequent touch with him though he didn’t live in Kenya.
The son of Shane Simba and Caroline Cheetah has come of age. He is illegitimate having been the result of a drunken Shane being seduced by his mother during a presidential train trip across Kenya. He is older than Shane’s oldest son with Betty Chimpo by a good bit. Sonny Leoparde, having had two very nice stepfathers, one who adopted him, knew nothing of his real father’s identity until two weeks ago. Having learned what amounts to Mara history to most, he felt betrayed by his mother, Caroline Cheetah. A handsome young male half lion-half cheetah mix, Sonny bodily exhibits only his father’s DNA. To all outward appearances, he is a strikingly handsome, well maned young male lion who has all the physical beauty of the Simba males. Filled with the anger of his newly discovered paternity, Sonny went to his father’s presidential office. Now bear in mind that Shane Simba, with all of his glaring flaws as a husband, has few where fatherhood is concerned. He genuinely loves his offspring. He faced his presidential dad and came away deeply satisfied. Shane, upon Sonny’s request gave him the surname that he had been denied as a result of his illegitimacy. It only took a few phone calls from the lion holding supreme power in Kenya. The young male left his father’s office with his heritage intact. He proudly left as Sonny Simba with his father’s blessings.
Young Sonny, being something of a maverick, chose the rather physically difficult task of landscaping. With his talent, Sonny was embraced within the workings of the Simba Garden Center, owned by the pride and run by Alexander and Simon Simba.
Sonny Simba is finally acknowledged by his dad, Shane.....
Alexandra and Shane.... Shane welcomes the Queen at a banquet....
The Queen of England is in Kenya and things are maddeningly hectic at the State House. We were all so rushed, arranging a ball at the mansion that we thought nothing of who the President would choose as his hostess for the few days royal visitation. Betty Chimpo, his ex-wife and favored companion of late, bought new gowns in anticipation of Shane choosing her to be his date for the ball and other events. However, one can never anticipate the unpredictable lion president. Who should be on his arm the night of the ball but a ravishing Alexandra Simba, his estranged wife. Lachlan bought Betty since I had arrived hours before to make sure that everything was hunky dory. The couple came down the mansion’s stairs, Shane with the Queen and Alexandra on the arm of Prince Phillip. I must say that Alexandra’s dress was rather revealing but her husband didn’t seem to care. Betty looked on in horror as Shane nuzzled Alexandra on the dance floor. She went to the terrace to light a cigarette. A hand on her shoulder turned her around.
“Betty, you know better than to trust Shane with your heart again, don’t you?” asked Dickey Simba.
“You would think I had learned that already, Dickey…..but there it is.”
Tears shone in her dark eyes.
“I know I’ve let you down too, Betty. Let’s go to my new place. You haven’t seen it yet,” he invited, kissing her cheek.
In the moonlight that streamed across Dickey’s bed, he and Betty made love until exhausted. They fell asleep in each other’s arms. At the first strong hint of day that also shone in the room, they waked, made coffee and took it to Dickey’s terrace.
“This place is wonderful, Dickey. Do you like it as much as I do?”
“You really like it, Betty?”
“I feel so at home here. Don’t let that statement scare you. It’s peaceful here and very soothing.”
He placed a hand on hers. “I like it that you feel at home here, Betty. That statement doesn’t scare me a bit.”
Shane Simba got the call in the early morning hours after Alexandra had left his bed to fly back to her plantation home in the highlands outside of Nairobi.
“Dad, you’re a grandfather again,” announced his oldest son, Sean Simba. “Georgy gave birth to a female cub.”
“I’ll be there bright and early, Sean. Give my love to Georgy.”
He rang the servants for coffee and got dressed. He decided to call Betty. Her housekeeper answered and told him curtly that, “Ms. Chimpo is not at home, Mr. President.”
He dialed her cell phone and got her voice mail. He didn’t have time to give it much thought.
Shane arrived at Tigeres-Lyon Clinic bright and early and found the media crush awaiting him. He gave non committal comments and entered the hospital to see his grandcub. He found Sloane Simba and his new wife, Lucy standing at Georgy’s bedside. Georgy looked tired but was cradling a tiny cub. Shane had been there only a few minutes when his brother and lover, Chris Simba and Caitlin Cougar arrived to see Caitlin’s first grandcub. The new father was busy trying to reach someone on his cell phone. Sean Simba was being ignored at any rate, the focus of everyone’s attentions being the new mother and tiny female cub.
new Simba grandcub, as yet unnamed.....
Shane made the mistake of visiting Betty after his visit at the clinic. Betty had just showered and was having an additional cup of coffee, having spent the night with Dickey Simba. Babs was cool as she escorted Shane and his Masai guard to Betty’s porch.
“I tried to call you, Fifi. I have a new grandcub. A little female……”
“How was your night with Alexandra, Shane?”
“Oh, that,” he said, lighting a cigarette. “That was for the Queen’s sake.”
“The Queen’s sake,” scoffed Betty. “There was a lot of tit showing if it was for the Queen’s sake. I always figured the Queen of England to be a modest type. Alexandra’s dress was anything but that.”
“Betty, I brought Alex into the fold again because the Queen and her consort were visiting. I suppose…..”
“That’s such utter bullshit, Shane. You brought Alex into the fold again because you wanted to do that for you. If it was for the Queen, you wouldn’t have allowed YOUR consort to wear that disgraceful dress.”
She was mad at him and mad at herself for caring so much again. She lit a cigarette and stood with her back to him, facing her pool. She made a decision right then and there. She would invite Dickey to her home in New York. She had a week or so left before Kenya University started classes again.
Betty in distress over Shane again....
I got the wrong side of Bertram Baboon at lunch today. He had spent a few days at the Cannes Film Festival being ignored. Bertram detests being overlooked. We were dining at OKAPI’S with its muted pretentiousness.
“Roy Lee wouldn’t go with me to Cannes,” he carped, popping a truffle in his mouth.
“Did you expect an award?” I asked.
“No, but I still like to go and keep my finger in the pie, so to speak,” he said, gingerly licking one that had been dabbed in the dipping sauce by mistake.
“I’m sure Roy Lee had other things to do, Bertram.”
“Yes, he has….trying to find another heroic role that he is too old for.”
“He still looks wonderful. I saw him the other night at the Queen’s banquet.”
“He’s had some work done. Roy Lee keeps Todd Tigeres busy at his cosmetic surgery clinic.”
“You look as if you have engaged in a bit of tightening yourself, Bertram.”
“Nonsense,” he snapped, quickly placing his hands to his face. I knew then that my former lover and friend had indulged in a mini-lift.
Dickey Simba didn’t care to go with Betty to her Manhattan apartment.
“Let’s go to Amsterdam instead,” he suggested. “I want to show you the city that formed my personality.”
“Oh, Dickey, how wonderful.”
Ashley Lyon relaxes with a cup of brew......
Ashley Lyon, in his restless but pleasant manner, was tiring of Cutty Sark. They had been together, she even moving basically into his bush house. Now he was coming home less and less. His focus was on his ex-wife, Staci Simba Lyon, with whom he has two adorable cubs. Ashley is in the habit of making firm friends with all of his ex-wives and lovers. Now he is about cementing a friendship with Staci.
I found Cutty in her State House office, bawling her eyes out. I handed her my hankie.
“Anything I can do to help?” I asked her, taking a seat in the chair opposite her desk.
“Oh, Maurice, I have my heart broken every time I turn around,” she wailed. “And it always seems to be by male lions. Are they all this terrible?”
“No, Cutty, there are male lions and then there are male lions. Mine is perfect.”
This brought on a freshet of tears. I winced and knew that speaking of Lachlan was not a kind thing to do at this moment.
“I know several male lions that are completely faithful to their mates,” I offered.
“But that’s just it, Maury…..they have MATES.”
“There are single male lions that are probably just as faithful,” I argued, unable to think of any at the moment.
What Cutty needed like a hole in her head was to run into the restless Shane at the end of the long day and be invited to his bush house. Shane was inwardly decrying the fact that he had pissed off Betty. All office personnel had departed the State House for the day. Cutty walked in the presidential office to leave a file and found him there. He was sitting behind his desk, smoking a cigarette and engaging in a very strong Scotch.
“Want to have a drink with me at the bush house? I’m celebrating my new granddaughter,” he said, standing.
“I would think you would do that at the clinic where she is,” teased Cutty.
“I can’t booze in the clinic. Come on,” he said, grabbing her hand and leading her out the door to his waiting limousine.
At the bush house, the usual staff was present but no one else. Shane invited Cutty to join him in a dip in the luxurious swimming pool replete with water fall.
“I didn’t bring a bathing suit,” she countered.
“We don’t need bathing suits. Or if you insist on a suit the maid will bring you one of the guest suits we keep here.”
This should have been a hint but Cutty was not into the world of clues this evening. She was disconsolate and simply followed the maid to a spare room where she found a suit that fitted her nicely – too nicely perhaps. In the interim, Shane had dived into the cool water buck naked. He swam to the edge of the water fall and awaited Cutty there.
In the Watering Hole Pub, Arlon Lyon stood nursing a drink. He was waiting for Lee Simba who had called to tell him she would be a bit late. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around. It was Simone Serval, the petite actress that had broken up his father’s marriage to his mother, Betty Chimpo.
“You look so much like Ash, I couldn’t help noticing,” she purred. “Want to buy me a drink?”
“Not really,” answered Arlon.
“Miss Serval, leave this young chap alone or leave my establishment,” rasped a voice.
They both looked across the formidable snout of owner Wally Warthog. Simone hastily walked away, remembering that Wally Warthog had set himself up years before as the protector of Ashley Lyon. Now he was doing the same for his son.
Simone Serval, rebuffed, bothered and bewildered...
Cutty swam to where Shane was propped against a picturesque rock. She shivered although the water was at the perfect temperature. Without further ado, He leaned forward and unfastened the clasp on her bikini top, removing it. She put her arms around his neck and kissed him. He removed what was left of her bikini and slid under her. They made love in the tepid water.
Cutty with Shane in his pool at the bush house....