TENNIS AND ADULTERY
Every man needs two women, a quiet home-maker, and a thrilling nymph.
Iris Murdoch 1919-, British Novelist
The bright African sun emblazoned the cloudless cobalt sky over the Indian Ocean. Underneath this spectacular atmosphere, as cozy as two creatures can be, lazed Dickey Simba and his hostess, Betty Chimpo. A very nice human lad living in the small cottage on Betty’s Mombasa villa grounds was trying to give the lovers their privacy. Mustafa kept the place safe from thieves and disrepair. Now he padded about the kitchen creating Bloody Marys of mouth-watering taste, serving them to the hunkered down couple lounging on the patio. It had been a Saturday night of sexual bliss followed by this Sunday spent hanging out in the most pleasurable way imaginable. Dickey’s edginess without his usual hashish packed bong was soothed by the Valium that Betty kept always in various purses and medicine cabinets. The thought of the additional Monday off only made the couple more satiated with pleasant thoughts. It was nothing short of bliss and after a lunch of sandwiches and more drink; they retired once again to the bedroom facing the ocean and made love for the zillionth time.
Betty with Dickey in her Mombasa home......
In the State House on Monday morning, things were tense. President Shane Simba was preparing to open Kenya’s first international tennis tournament to be held in Nairobi. First he had to speak to the various VIP’s who had arrived and then lob the first ball for the initial tennis set. He was nervous and pacing around. Not helping matters was Alexandra Simba who had returned from her weekend in London with a bright, smug expression on her lovely face. Cutty Sark, whom I have grown to love as has Bernice Bear, was trying to alleviate some of the tension with her normally happy disposition. Cutty and the Reverend Calvin Cheetah were seeing each other. She hadn’t shared any details with us as of yet, but she did seem quite content these days.
“Remind me, please, Shane will be back in the Mara when?” I inquired of Cutty.
“He is spending five days in Nairobi. I will be staying in the same hotel,” she said, gathering papers needed for the events to transpire in our capitol city.
“Alexandra has a house in Nairobi, why is he staying in a hotel?” inquired Bernice Bear, blowing on her steaming cup of Earl Grey in an attempt to cool the flavorsome brew.
Cutty winked one very blue eye at Bernice and said, “He has priorities and they don’t have a thing to do with his wife and her house there. In fact, from what I gather, Alex is not even going to accompany him.”
A few miles south of the State House, an argument was taking place in Chancellor Terry Simba’s office on the Mara campus of Kenya University.
“You’re missing an entire week of your classes?” asked Terry.
Claire Cheetah sat before him, silken legs crossed.
“Yes, I have to be in Nairobi for the International Kenya Tennis Opens.”
“Miss Cheetah, the sports you engage in are not supposed to supplant your actual job as a professor of art history and a department head to boot. We have these off times charted ahead unless it is a family emergency or illness.”
“This is an occasion I can’t miss, Chancellor Simba. I have lined up professors to lecture in my stead. I even have two outstanding Kenyan artists slated to teach. I’ll be back the following Monday, pronto.”
Terry stood. “Miss Cheetah, this is the last time this will happen, if you catch my drift.”
Without a further word, Claire rose and left the chancellor’s office.
“I’ve never…,” muttered Terry. “Such utter insolence …..just because Shane is behind the whole thing and he’s the damned president.”
Claire Cheetah defies the university chancellor.....
As a matter of fact, Alexandra had designed another vacation from Kenya. This time a hunting trip was planned on her brother, Ian Delamere’s vast estate in Wiltshire England. Alexandra’s guest was to be Stanley Morrison whom the Delamere family knew well as a fellow Brit and planter in Kenya. Alexandra took a first class flight on Kenya Airways with Stanley and the Simba twins, Sacha and Tanya.
Alexandra travels to England with friend, Stanley Morrison...
This same week, a small wedding occurred in the home of Caitlin Cougar and her lover, Chris Simba. It wasn’t theirs though they had a recently born cub they doted on – Beatrice Simba. She was adorable and the image of her mother. Among all Simba pride members, Chris was the only one who approved of his nephew and niece’s love affair. Georgy Simba (the daughter of Caitlin’s marriage to Sloane Simba) and Sean Simba, the oldest son of Shane and the late Catherine Cheetah, had a bun in the oven. Caitlin was once more pregnant by Sean. Anxious to please his coaches and settle down to some extent, it was decided that they would marry and let fly what may from the pride members, including their respective fathers. The ceremony was brief and performed by itinerant minister, Daryl Dik Dik. Troy Simba stood as his cousin’s best male. Imani Lyon was pleased to stand by Georgy. After all, with Georgy temporarily out of the modeling picture, Imani only stood to benefit. She already had Tara Simba, another cousin, rivaling her career and that was bad enough. Unbeknownst to the wedding party, the paparazzi stood hidden in the thick shrubs bordering the lawn on Leoparde Drive. They caught the nauseated Georgy toss her cookies before proceeding to the home she would be sharing with Sean and fellow house owner, Troy Simba. They also took note of the ring on Georgy’s left hand.
As luck would have it, Sean’s father was far too preoccupied with his affair with Claire Cheetah to care about his errant elder son’s marriage. Georgy’s dad, Sloane, was in the middle of his honeymoon in Europe, so the couple survived the publicity that ensued. The problem lay in the fact that Georgy’s intense love for her new husband wasn’t shared in kind. For Sean, his new bride was the one he ran to when the world seemed too much at times. The one raising the most hell about the marriage was Sean’s pregnant human lover, Dina Myers. But then who really gave a rat’s ass what Dina thought? She was no big mover and shaker in the Mara. Her druthers were utterly insignificant.
cousins, Georgy Simba and Sean Simba wed hastily.....
Imani Lyon sashayed and attempted to out-swagger another Simba cousin on the runway at her mom’s fashion emporium JAGGERS but only managed to hold her own. The gorgeous Tara Simba with the cheetah face and solid tawny body was heady competition. Along the way the two had picked up ad campaigns and magazine modeling jobs which were quite lucrative.
Poor Georgy, pregnant and nauseated, lived among the disarray of her young husband’s home and took in sports talk from the time she rose in the morning until she lay her weary head on the pillow at night. She did manage some cosmetic ads. She begged Sean to rent their own digs or stay at Georgy’s flat but being of a vapid disposition and a sport’s jock to boot, Sean wanted to remain with his team mate and kinsman. Sean didn’t really care about Georgy’s domestic longing for a place where she could nest with her new husband and prepare for their child/children. He wanted to party in the house he shared with Troy. Actually the very kind Troy Simba was the only one who paid attention to Georgy’s needs as a rather ailing and newly pregnant female.
Shane spent a carefree week of watching tennis and honoring VIP’s who were glad to see Kenya back on track and ready to participate in the global sports scene again. He lobbed the initial ball for the first match and then retreated to the deluxe box stand set aside as a viewing area for the President and his guests. Among them was Claire Cheetah sitting just two seats away from Shane and conversing with her aunt and uncle who had sponsored the tournament. It is not known to me how much Dorian and Cynthia Cheetah knew of his niece’s intense affair with their former-son-in-law, Shane Simba.
Claire and Shane would reunite in his suite at the Intercontinental Hotel at night having dined with the sponsors and visiting players. They managed to distance themselves from close personal interaction until within the beautifully appointed presidential rooms. After closing the door with guards on either side, Claire and Shane would then disrobe and engage in the kind of sex that suited them to a ‘T’.
Above: Dorian and Cynthia Cheetah at Tournament luncheon with Shane Simba....
Shane at same luncheon with former first lioness, Mildred Lyon and Lewis Lyon....
The President lobbing the first ball at the tournament...
Shane caught hugging Claire Cheetah outside the hotel...
Cutty Sark was weary and in the bar of the Intercontinental Hotel. She had managed all of the tournament’s press events for Shane. She stepped to the bar and ordered a whiskey on ice with no water.
“We got off to a bad start the last time I asked you to have a drink with me. Do you think we could start over and end this night with a relaxing snort or two?” asked Rory Lion who, being a tennis buff, had come to Nairobi for the last day of the tournament.
“I’m frankly too pooped to waste time with barbs tonight, what are you drinking? I’ll buy.”
“That’s different,” he laughed. “Never had a female buy me a drink before.”
They took their drinks to a table and sat down. Cutty was delighted with Rory’s conversation. He seemed to be a reader who knew the ropes on many issues. Rory was also an admirer of the United States and openly expressed the desire to visit there when his case load became lighter.
“And you are for Barack Obama as a possible president?” she asked him.
“Of course, Obama has Kenyan roots,” he told her.
They went on to discuss the American political scene and then she yawned.
“Oops, sorry…..a very long day,” she apologized.
“I guess I’ll get back to my hotel too.”
“Where are you staying?”
“Twelve miles out of Nairobi – it’s quite a long drive.”
“Hey, I have a suite with a sofa in it. It’s dangerous to drive in Kenya at night, I’ve heard. You can crash in my suite instead of on the road.”
“Thanks, you’re certain you don’t mind?” he asked, helping her from her chair.
“Positive.”
By the time the elevator reached Cutty’s floor, the two were so intensely aware of each other it only took them the time to slide the card in the lock and close the door behind them before they were in each other’s arms.
Cutty and Rory Lion finally get that drink together
On Monday morning, bright and early, I greeted everyone at the office. I, as is my usual way, had arrived before time. I noticed that Cutty absolutely glowed and Shane was whistling as he came through the main door to his office suite. I took him the day’s edition of the London Times which mentioned Alexandra Simba’s ongoing visit to Wiltshire. The one I dreaded him seeing, having been advised by his twittering secretaries in advance, was the Masai Mara Daily which headlined his son’s hasty and secretive marriage to his cousin. I shouldn’t have bothered fretting on the subject. He merely read it and put it aside. There was no overt reaction. I realized then that Claire Cheetah had taken over not only his body but his thoughts as well. His former preoccupation with his wayward son was obviously of no concern any more. He did receive a call from Lewis Lyon that day.
“Shane, old buddy, what’s really going on between you and Alexandra? She called Gina from England all weepy last night,” asked Lewis whose Mombasa home had been the scene of Shane and Alexandra’s marriage.
“A rough stretch is all. How about golf next weekend, Lew?”
Lewis didn’t want to press the issue with his best friend and business partner but he had seen the laden looks cast between Claire Cheetah and Shane the one day he had attended the tennis tournament. Alexandra had told Gina of the affair.
“That’ll work for me, Shane. See you at the club Sunday then?”
“Sure thing, Lew - have a great week.”
“Same to you, Shane.”