Shane Simba’s week did not get off to a good start.  The first transgression was on Sunday evening. His wife, Alexandra, invited a human lady soprano (I won’t mention names) to the mansion and invited members of the State House staff and their families for a concert followed by drinks and h’or dueves.  Shane fell asleep during the elaborate trills and high notes of the overbearing singer, snoring softly and having to be jerked awake by his spouse.  If that wasn’t bad enough, he looked aghast at a picture of his daughter, Staci, caught by the paparazzi in a convertible with Stanley Morrison. 

“What the fuck is this about?” he roared, forgetting the fact that Stanley was Alexandra’s good friend. 

Alexandra looked at the newspaper picture. 

“That’s Stanley Morrison, a good friend of mine.  You met him at my home in Nairobi before we were married.  He’s a lovely chap. What’s wrong with her seeing him?”

“He’s a human, Alex.”

Alex, already feeling more hormonally unbalanced with her pregnancy than she ever fancied being, jumped up from the sofa and accosted him. 

“Oh, so a human is perfectly fine for you to dally with but not for your daughter.  We seem to have a bit of hypocrisy going on here, don’t we?  The males can partake but not the females.  A bit of double standard is involved too, I’d bloody say.  Stanley is my friend and a wonderful person,” she said as she turned on her heel and ran from the room. 

Shane quickly followed, almost getting the door of their bedroom slammed in his face.  He managed to make his way in to see her taking things from her dresser drawer. 

“Alex, I am sorry.  That was very boorish of me.  I have to certainly settle one misconception for you.  I hardly think marrying you constitutes dallying.  One thing that upsets me is that Staci is still married and I hate for her husband to see that and go for her throat.”

“I don’t believe that was your point of contention.  Your first objection was the real one.  He’s a human, you said.  Well, I’m a freaking human too.  Not only that, but you put many who called our marriage unsuitable off their land, including my cousin.  Now, you don’t want your daughter involved with a human.”

“Alex, for crying out loud, I am very sorry.  I don’t mind if Staci has a human friend.  I’m sure Stanley is absolutely super in nature,” he said, trying to turn her towards him. 

She was having none of it. 

“What if she has a human husband, Shane?  Will that do?  I’ll bet bloody not.”

“Alex, I really don’t care…..I swear to God.”

“You’re a damn hypocrite.  I want you to sleep in the guest room.  I don’t want to be near you tonight,” she said, bursting into unaccustomed tears. 

The offending picture of Stanley Morrison with Staci in Nairobi....

            He tossed the entire night in one of the guest beds, finally getting some sleep as dawn approached.  Shane awakened to find Alexandra gone, the servants unaware of her whereabouts.  He called the airport and found that Alexandra had taken her own plane up at five that morning.  He was unable to follow her due to the awards ceremony at ten that morning on the State House lawn.  He was presenting commendation plaques to Dr. Juma Mnyama, his son-in-law, and Dr. Trevor Tau.  Both had been instrumental in considerably reducing the AIDS and Malaria numbers during their time as heads of those programs.  I took part in the ceremony.  I noticed that Juma Mnyama was tightlipped and that Trevor Tau was accompanied by Leah Simba.   Champagne and canapés were served after the ceremony.  Juma left immediately after receiving the plaque and failed to stay for the reception afterwards. 

“It’s about time you got back, Betty.  I’ve been frantically trying to work this campaign shit out without you,” bitched Pete. 

“Pete, I never promised you a rose garden and I DO have a private life of my own.”

“Are you ready for another major session in Dar es Salaam and then some time in Zanzibar?”

“Yes, I came prepared with enough of my things for at least a week’s stay.”

“Good, Cheeta, we will be there at least that long.  Since Zanzibar is part of Tanzania but has its own internal leader, it is very important that I get his support in the campaign.  His name is Amani Abeid Karume and his help is critical to my winning the presidency.”

”We shall woo him with everything we’ve got.  Shall we get in the air and headed in that direction?”

            Shane found Alexandra on her coffee plantation training one of her horses with the water method.  She stopped what she was doing and came with him to the main house.  She removed her wet clothes and joined him on the veranda for drinks. 

“Don’t you think you over reacted a bit last night?” he asked, lighting a cigarette.       

She took his cigarette and lit one of her own before answering. 

“I possibly did that….yes.  My hormones are raging at the moment …also…..” she hesitated and took another drag on her cigarette, exhaling the smoke toward the ceiling fan.  “Also, I didn’t mean to like you as well as I do.”

“Didn’t mean to like me, did you say?  Meaning exactly what?”

“You are legend for tossing aside those females that have tired you.  I meant to keep some of myself in reserve….not care so intensely.  Now that’s a hopeless thing to try to accomplish.  When you made that remark about Stanley being a human and with Staci, I decided that it didn’t bode well for my staying in your life for too long a time.  I need to brace myself I suppose.”

He turned her toward him and held her tightly, his chin resting on her streaked hair.

“Alex, my love, you never have to fear any more of that from me ….ever.  I am besotted by you and it only gets better with each passing day.  I adore you, my darling, and that is very real.”

            When she arrived the next morning in the office, it was if nothing had happened.  I did notice something very different about Shane Simba.  I had known him through two wives and onto his third but this was first one he had ever called one ‘darling’.  I had never heard him call Catherine or Betty that particular term of endearment but he used it liberally with Alexandra. 

            Chelsea Cheetah Cougar, my director of dance at the arts center, recovered from childbirth, had staged a new modern dance presentation.  This was the opening night in the Catherine Simba Memorial auditorium of the arts center.  There was much excitement afoot.  Extra pains had been taken with the cocktail dinner after the performance.  Everyone including the President and First Lady were to be there.  The ticket sales had been huge in advance of the production that would last a week, bringing many from abroad to fill the Leoparde-Lyon Safari Club and the Mara Simba Lodge, not to mention Lewis Lyon’s rather new Four Seasons Hotel in the Mara.   However, this was the first night and the most important where the VIP guest list was concerned.  The media perked up considerably when Staci Simba Mnyama and her cousin, Lee Simba, arrived with Stanley Morrison as their mutual escort.  Flash bulbs popped continuously as they entered the center.  Just standing aside with Bertram and Gloria Baboon and Lachlan, I had a view of the interactions taking place.  I saw Shane Simba greeting his daughter, niece and their escort, Stanley, after Alexandra had given all a hug.  I didn’t see Betty but decided  that she was still in Zanzibar that evening with her presidential hopeful, Pete.  The performance was breathtaking with some male lions at the after-party commenting on Jean Pierre de Leon, the male principal dancer’s waved mane. 

Chelsea and the elaborately coiffed Jean Pierre de Leon dance in a new presentation at the arts center...

Alexandra and Shane Simba at the arts center for the dance presentation....

            Lewis Lyon is building the Masai Mara Country Club in the Mara bush country.  It will have two golf courses and rival the already established Sporting Club which is probably owned by the Leoparde Family Bank behind a dense corporate veil.  Due to the constant phone calls between Lewis and Shane Simba, I believe the President to be in on this deal with him – another lucrative venture.  This week also caught the First Lady in ‘arrears’ as she leaned over to get something from her car.  Shane tried to ward off the paparazzi but to no avail.  They caught the ‘First Underpants’ as they flashed momentarily in all their white cotton glory.  A notorious crotch shot which all newspapers in Kenya put on their second pages but in blazing Technicolor and with major sizing.

the First Lady, Alexandra Simba, in 'arrears'....

            Betty and Pete stayed at a hotel on the beach in Zanzibar despite Pete’s protests that he simply loathed oceans and the shore.  Betty managed to get him in the water, which he immediately vacated.

“I hate that damn stuff, Betty.  I’m not a water nut like Shane Simba.  Most lions don’t like water,” he argued. 

“My boyfriend adores water,” she said, lighting a cigarette.

“Your boyfriend?  I didn’t know you had one.”

“Yes, of course I have one.”

“Does he know you fucked me in New York?”

“No, he doesn’t and he won’t.”

“How tight are you with him?”

Pete’s yellow eyes seemed concerned and filled with consternation. 

“Don’t fret it.  I am still footloose and fancy free,” she laughed, enjoying his dismay. 

“I wasn’t fretting,” he roared. 

Nevertheless, he was.

Above:  Pete with the leader of Zanzibar..

Below:  Betty and Pete at a beach restaurant in Zanzibar...

             Leah Simba drove toward Trevor Tau’s home on the Mara River.  She carried a bag of groceries from Margaux’s Fine Spirits and Meats.  She entered his house to find him in his shorts in the kitchen just having returned from work.  He made drinks while she placed the things she had brought on the kitchen counter. 

“Leah, how about getting engaged to me?  We’ve known each other long enough, don’t you think?”

“Trevor, I am just out of a divorce.  I have a new career.  I’m just not ready yet.”

He turned to face her with a certain amount of fire in his lion eyes.

“Leah, this is bullshit.  You have been divorced from Ashley so long, he is already remarried and expecting a litter with his new wife.  You just can’t seem to get a handle on commitment.”

“That’s not fair, Trevor.  I am fully capable of commitment.”

“Is it the fact that you’re a Simba and for your pride, commitment is rare – at the very least it is a short term affair?”

“That’s a terrible thing to say about my pride members, Trevor.”

“Well judging from that uncle of yours, your pride is iffy at best in affairs of the heart.”

“That ‘uncle of mine’ just awarded you a plaque.  What have you got against Uncle Shane?”

“It’s your entire freaking pride that’s fucked up, Leah.”

She took the two steaks from the counter and threw them at him. 

“Enjoy your dinner.  I’m out of here.  What would some redneck lion from Botswana know about commitment anyway.”

She left the house.  He stood in the kitchen and picked the steaks from the floor, tossinng them in the trash. 

Trevor and Leah argue about commitment at his house....

            Jane Leoparde put her head in Betty’s office door at the Masai Mara Daily.  Betty had just returned from Tanzania.

“Betts, I hate like hell to impose on you but I have no other choice.  I have to go to western Kenya and check on the mudslide recovery progress.  Do you mind going to the Kenya Medical Center and interviewing Trevor Tau and Juma Mnyama about the citations they received from Shane Simba?  Jack is on a story in the bush.”

“I shall be glad to do that, Janie.  How are things here?”

“Popping!  Alexandra Simba gave us a crotch shot and Shane is launching a huge celebration for Ralph Lyon’s birthday.  How is Pete’s campaign going?”

“I received an invitation for that birthday bash at the civic center.  As for Pete, he seems to be taking fire.  I believe he will be elected.”

“Luke and I are going to the bash and if Pete does get elected in Tanzania, it will probably be because of your efforts on his behalf.”

“He has brilliance to him, Janie, in spite of boorish aspects.”

“He seems dynamic to say the least.”

“He wants to be Shane,” giggled Betty. 

“Oh shit, that’s all the word needs is another Shane Simba.”