STACI LEARNS TO FLY
Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery?
Murray Banks
The newly wed Luke Leoparde had a history of avoiding the avidity of the love bug. He had been intrigued and sexually into his first wife, film actress Simone Serval. Now he was wed to Jane who was the true love of President Shane Simba. Luke had loved Jane in a non-invasive way before this. She had turned down his first proposal of marriage. Luke had turned his interest in the lioness reporter into a deep friendship in almost effortless fashion. Luke Leoparde, an heir to the Leoparde family billions, had never been prey to what one usually considers the passions and agues of all consuming love. That was about to change. He was working in the hangar at the safari club when he received a call from his partner, Ashley Lyon.
“I sent someone to you for flying lessons. I don’t think her dad will be pleased with me teaching her since he knows I have amnesia and have crashed twice.”
“Ash, you can fly as well as ever – why have me teach her?”
Luke’s protests were cut short when the long legged and elegant Staci Simba walked in the hangar. Luke was on a ladder polishing his favorite plane. He stepped off, wiping his paws on a clean cloth.
“Miss Simba, what brings you for flying lessons?” asked Luke, recognizing the President’s daughter.
“I’m working in some AIDS villages now. I thought a pilot’s license would be handy for those trips. My dad is allotting the money for our AIDS team to have our own plane.”
At the thought of her father, Shane Simba, Luke gave an involuntary shudder. This was lost on Staci.
“Do you need parental consent?”
“No, I graduated from high school. I am of legal age. My dad doesn’t mind at any rate.”
“I have the next two weeks free. My wife is pregnant and I want to hang around the Mara. Shall we start tomorrow?”
“That would be wonderful, Mr. Leoparde. Thank you so much.”
“Please call me Luke if I’m to teach you to fly.”
“Call me Staci, Luke,” she said, putting out a paw.
He took it in his and stood looking into her lovely face. She withdrew her paw and said her goodbyes. He tipped his hat back on his head and watched her comely form retreat.
“Damn nation!” he muttered under his breath.
He felt the irony in the fact that he would be teaching the daughter of his nemesis, Shane Simba, whose unborn cubs he was claiming as his own.
Luke and Staci in the hangar of the safari club in the Mara..
At his next physical examination, Dr. Frank Tigeres told Shane that his ulcers seemed on the verge of exploding again.
“What’s up, Mr. President?” asked the tiger physician.
“Some tensions, I suppose. What should I do, Frank?”
“Get Lachlan over there every day and see what can be done. You can’t afford to have those things bleed again.”
Sloane Simba had been seeing Caroline Cheetah almost non stop since her divorce from Leland Leoparde. They worked together at the State House during the day and went to either Caroline’s apartment or Sloane’s bush house at night.
Sloane and Caroline in a tender moment......
Lachlan Lion tried to soothe the angst riddled president, prescribing tranquilizers and Ambien for sleep. Finally, it was decided between his two doctors, both psychiatrist and internist, that a stay in the Exotic Animal Clinic’s Presidential Suite would be helpful as a preventative measure. He was admitted to the clinic at midnight under an assumed name, not wanting to alarm the citizens of Kenya. Betty hovered over her husband until his eyes glazed with incipient irritation. Lachlan knowing the truth, asked her not to visit as often since Shane needed a great deal of sleep to avoid another session of bleeding ulcers. Lachlan then placed a call to the Masai Mara Daily and asked Jane to visit Shane at some point.
“Shane, I didn’t even know you were in here,” said Jane, holding his paw in hers.
“I didn’t have my cell phone, Janie; I forgot it in my jacket pocket at the mansion. I couldn’t call you. How did you find out I was here?”
“Your psychiatrist called me at the Daily. I would have come sooner if I had known. I can visit late at night when your family leaves.”
“Janie, I’ve made such a mess of things letting Betty get pregnant again and causing you to marry Luke,” he groaned.
“Shane, stop torturing yourself. Luke is my friend….we are just that. He understands fully. He has his own life as well. Things will right themselves. At least my marriage and Betty’s pregnancy have brought all suspicions of our affair to an end. Please stop worrying, Shane, and get healthy. I want you well and strong when our son and daughter are born. It won’t be too long now. Luke has said that you can be there. He is bringing in two very accomplished midwives. I will have them at home.”
She sat by his bed in the dim light of the room, holding his paw in hers. He finally told her to go home. The sun was rising in a red glow over the horizon.
“Janie, go home. I know you are tired and pregnant. I love you so very much. I will be fine now that I’ve seen you. You’re right in saying I have to get strong before our children are born.”
“I love you too, Shane Simba. Be well.”
Betty went about the mansion commanding the household help in arranging flowers and getting special foods together in the kitchen. Her husband was coming home from the hospital and she couldn’t wait. When he exited the elevator, escorted by five Masai guards, she ran and hugged him tightly.
“Good to be home, Fifi. I need a drink,” he stated, removing her clinging arms from around his waist.
“But darling……you have to cut down your drinking. Frank said….”
Betty, dammit, I want a drink. Don’t give me any flack about it,” he roared.
That night at dinner, he chatted with his daughter, Staci, who had come for his first evening home. Solly’s high chair was next to Shane’s chair at the long table. Betty excitedly reported that she had begun the first chapter of her book on the Masai mother. Shane expressed a desultory interest in the subject causing Staci to inquire more of the matter.
“Betty, please tell me about your book. I want to know everything,” said Staci.
“Staci, how are your piloting lessons with Ashley Lyon going?” cut in her father.
“I’m having lessons with Luke Leoparde, Daddy…..not Ashley.”
His green eyes took fire at the mention of Luke.
“I thought Ash was to teach you, Staci.”
“No, Daddy. Ashley thought you would be more comfortable with Luke teaching me.”
Shane realized that more on the subject would tip his hand. He let Staci return to Betty and her book.
Staci drove home after the dinner, distressed and perplexed at her father’s complete disinterest in his wife.
Luke’s sons were with him for the school break. Jane, having been given a baby shower at the Daily by her friends and co-workers, had cut back her hours since the birth of her cubs was forthcoming. Jane got along well with Luke’s sons with Simone Serval. They enjoyed the no nonsense and straight forward lioness. She took long walks with them to the watering hole on Luke’s property. In the evenings, Luke came home to a unified, intensely warm family scene. Jane would have a drink in paw waiting for him when he walked in the door. His sons would be watching television or engaged in conversation with Jane, whose stories of her world wide career as a journalist intrigued them. One evening after the boys had gone to a party at a friend’s home, Jane and Luke sat on the veranda hearing the night sounds of the bush awakening around them.
“Janie, what do you know about Shane Simba’s daughter, Staci?”
“Just that he adores and dotes on her and tells me what a wonderful young female she is with her interest in the AIDS battle in Kenya. She is going to become a nurse and work with Juma Mnyama.”
“I’m teaching her to fly. I remember her when she was little. Ash and Leah would have her at their beach house and on the boat. She has matured into a stunning young cat.”
“I think she will be outstanding, Luke.”
“I’m sure of that, Janie.”
Lachlan was on one of his intensive sessions with Shane Simba who had not returned to full days in the State House since his hospitalization. Doctor and patient commandeered the library downstairs in the mansion, locking the door against all others.
“You are going to have to get better control of the situation if you are going to play the King of England with mistress and wife,” advised Lachlan. “These things have always gone on but do you literally have the ‘stomach’ for it?”
“What do you suggest, Lachlan?”
“In kingly situations the wife always knew there was a mistress, Shane. Do you think that might make things easier for you and Betty both?”
“Betty would be destroyed by this. I owe her more than an announcement that I have finally found the female I can love for life.”
“So you will have to find a balance between your two lives which you seem to be leading. If you are to leave Betty in the dark, I think a bit more kindness and attention is in order with her, Shane.”
“You are quite right about that, Lachlan. I guess I will have to compartmentalize as I was doing. It’s just that Jane’s marriage threw me for a loop.”
“Camilla Parker Bowles was married for years while Charles continued to be with her,” reminded Lachlan.
“That gives me hope, Lachlan.”
“Let’s just hope that Betty doesn’t start suspecting and act out like Princess Diana. That would certainly get your ulcers in a twist.”
Luke took Staci to Mombasa on a morning flying lesson. They ate lunch at the Safari Club there.
“You’re top notch, Staci. I think you will be a superb pilot,” said Luke, touching his Bloody Mary glass to her Perrier water.
“I have the greatest teacher in the world, Luke. I have you to thank.”
Later among the billowing clouds on the return to the Mara, she placed a gentle paw on his arm and looked into his green eyes. He realized that he was falling head over heels in love with Shane Simba’s daughter. Staci made an expert landing and taxied into the hangar. They had another drink in the safari club bar. Staci accepted a glass of wine this time, her flying over for the day.
“I hope Juma won’t mind me having a bit of wine on my breath,” she laughed softly.
“Why would he?”
“I work for him in the evenings. I have to go right away when I leave here.”
Luke felt something unfelt before. Jealousy over took him at the thought of Staci and the AIDS doctor possibly being in love.
“Is he your male friend, Staci?”
He wished he had bitten that one back.
“No, I don’t have a boyfriend yet. Daddy says I can date now but I just haven’t found anyone I want to be with yet. I think Daddy would consider Juma too old and experienced for me.”
He found himself wishing that the father of Jane’s cubs would protest over any male that his first born saw – except for him, of course. He had to laugh at the thought that he would be intrinsically involved with Shane Simba’s offspring for a long time to come.
Someone working for the ANIMAL ENQUIRER was tapping into some interesting cell phone conversations. The calls were loving, intense and filled with passionate longings and whispers. They took place late at night. The callers failed to identify themselves and when the reporter had attempted to trace the origins of the numbers he had met with a dead end. Nevertheless, the baboon reporter was determined to get to the bottom of this being faintly aware that the male voice was a familiar one.
The weekend before Shane Simba returned full time to his presidential duties, he took Betty, Solly, Staci and Betty’s son, Arlon Lyon to their home in Mombasa. He relaxed by windsurfing with Staci. Arlon paid attention to his new half brother, while Betty spent time with Shane. Shane was determined to be kind and loving to his pregnant wife. Staci and Arlon spent evenings with Ashley and Leah Lyon while Shane put on his best romantic face for Betty. They would make love at night before Shane fell in to his Ambien induced sleep.