The fine spray hit their faces as they stood beneath the rocky ledge from which the water fall dropped.  They were on the second day of their trip to Mt. Elgon.  Mt. Elgon is Kenya's second highest mountain. It lies 140km North East of Lake Victoria and is bisected by the Kenya-Uganda border.  They had made the hike to the falls. 

“What beauty this country has,” said Shane, shadowing his eyes from the sun with a paw. 

“And it is yours to govern….you are its leader and will bring it to greatness,” said Jane, propping an arm on his shoulder.

“To think that I used to be a city boy, in love with the fog filled streets and back alleys of London.  Now I can’t get enough of Kenya’s glory.  It’s like a narcotic - as you are,” he said, drawing her close.

“We are so lucky to be in this moment when this country is coming into its own, under your direction, Shane.”

“Without you, Janie, I couldn’t do it.”

“You could do it with anyone else or even alone.”

“Never, never!! -- say you won’t leave me….ever.”

“I’ll always be here, Shane.”

Shane and his love, Jane, at the water fall on Mt. Elgon....

            They were at Kapkuro Banda, a camp where they had been given two cabins for the duration of their stay.  Jane and Shane were in one, the Masai guards in another.  They met with the animals and people of Kitale and surrounding villages.  Jane recorded faithfully while Shane conducted forums and meetings with those involved. 

Shane attends a meeting in the town of Kitale, Kenya...

“Janie, you think I’m totally debauched having made the bargain with Betty?  I do love my kids and the thought of other children like Staci, Sean, Solly, Catherine and Andrew was also something of a consideration.”

“I know you love your children, Shane.  In fact that is one of the things I noticed early on about you.  You are wonderful to all your kids.  I think you are just making the adjustments in your life since it’s not a truly normal one.”

“I don’t know how a decadent soul like me became such a wannabe daddy,” he laughed, putting his head on her shoulder as they lay stretched before the dancing flames of the fire. 

“Shane, I don’t consider you morally wrong.  Many things come into play in one’s life and you have been amazing considering the way you were brought up.   Yours is more or less an epic existence – almost Homeric.”

“Janie, if you’re ever not there, all my weaknesses will be exposed like a shriveled cadaver lying in a grave in some far province.”

“Shane, my love, don’t talk like that…..you scare the hell out of me.  I will always love you and be with you, I promise this.”

            The last night in the cabin beneath the mountain, she held him in her arms while he wept. 

“I am nothing without you, Janie.  You are my strength.”

“You are your own strength, Shane Simba, and don’t you ever forget that.”

They made love until the dim rays of the sun invaded the rustic cabin. 

            I suppose Betty noticed my slight withdrawal from her emotionally.  We had been great friends since her early days as a reporter and mine as a caterer in business and living with Bertram Baboon.  She came to my office one morning.  Shane was due back that day from Mt. Elgon.  Solly held her hand, jumping about excitedly in expectation of his ride to the kindergarten with the Masai driver and guard, whom he adored. 

“Maurice, I know you don’t approve of me having another cub and the bargain I made with Shane.”

“Sit down, Betts, I’ll have some herbal tea brought.  We can sip it and machinate about this thing,” I chuckled.  She seemed tremulous and uncertain. 

The Masai guard came for Solly, who laughed and kissed his hand.  Our tea arrived in a silver cozy with china cups and saucers.  I poured for us. 

“Betty, your pregnancy is a thing that is only between you and your husband.  It is ultimately no one’s business but yours.”

“You sort of snapped on me, Maury, when I asked you who got the better end of the bargain,” she said, sipping her tea.  She took a cigarette to light, thought better of it and returned it to its pack. 

“If the bargain you made with Shane was a baby in exchange for turning your back on his infidelity – then I still believe there will be no winners there.”

“There will be a new son.”

“Yes, there will be that,” I concurred. 

            That evening over cocktails on our back porch, I told Lachlan of our conversation.  The full moon hung low over the acacias.  He gave a great sigh. 

“Maury, Betty has a bit of madness to her makeup as well as extreme tunnel vision.  She has failed to understand any of the males she married with the possible exception of Montecore.  I don’t believe sex is the only thing Shane is getting from Jane.  There is something much more to that relationship.  She understands him and his destiny - she is part of it.  She is the light that is guiding him, I believe.  I do think that Shane will go down in history as the greatest African leader ever – including Ralph Lyon.”

Janice and Roy Lee...

      Roy Lee Simba and his beloved wife, Janice, had just retired to their boudoir in the rented English mansion.  They had spent a  wonderful and very convivial evening with their newly wed houseguests, Gloria and Bertram Baboon.

“Jan, I don’t understand a fucking thing about my younger brother, Shane.  Did you hear Gloria and Bertram say that Betty is pregnant again?”

“Yes, but that is probably a good thing, she just lost one cub,” soothed Janice. 

“Hell, Sam told me about holding Shane up at the funeral he was so broken.  He told Sam that Betty had smoked and drunk so much coffee that the little cub was underweight as well as premature.  He blamed it on Betty.  Now he’s allowing her to have another one.  Sam tells me that Betty stinks as a mother and that Shane knows it all too well. What’s he thinking?”

Janice’s thoughts were similar to Ashley Lyon’s:  “Roy Lee, stop fretting, sweetheart, there’s nothing we can do about it.  It’s their choice and their lives.”

            Chloe Cougar adjusted her bra before her coming to an interview with Christine Cheetah Mbube, the director of the arts center.  She was taking a chance since she had recently had a brief affair with Micah Mbube who is married to Christine.  Now it was over and Micah was ensconced firmly in the bosom of his family again.  The secretary escorted Chloe into Christine’s inner office.   Christine, with no show of warmth, indicated for Chloe to take a chair in front of her desk.  Chloe sat; crossing her silk clad legs, and got down to business. 

“I need a very meaty female role and I would love for it to be on the stage in this center, Christine.  I have to once again prove my acting chops since Roy Lee is no longer my husband and I have lost a great deal of clout at the studio.”

Christine lit a cigarette and sat studying the leopard/cougar mix that looked like her leopard mother, Sylvia.

“I have wanted to stage A Streetcar Named Desire but you are still a bit young for the role of Blanche Dubois.  Still……you might just work in the part.”

“Oh, gad, Christine that is the role of a lifetime.  Please do it,” begged Chloe. 

“I certainly don’t want Micah playing Stanley Kowalski, considering your past history with my husband.  There is another lion actor that just signed up with the center.  I’ll use him...if I decide to stage it.”

“Do you think this will pan out, Christine?” asked the anxious Chloe. 

“I believe it will, Chloe…..by the way your bra strap is showing and it’s a bit dingy.”

“Oops,” said the nervous Chloe who was well aware that Christine was playing cat and mouse with her and enjoying every delicious minute of it.

    At the end of the day, Christine had delivered to Chloe’s penthouse, a manuscript of the play.  Chloe squealed and jumped up and down with excitement.  This would be a reminder to Roy Lee and Bertram that she could act her pretty ass off. 

            In the penthouse next door to Chloe’s a great squabble was taking place between the occupant and her recalcitrant lover. 

“Alexander isn’t it about time that you put a ring on my left paw, fourth digit?” wailed Simone Serval. “The fan magazines are laughing at me.”

“Simone, it’s still too soon.  I just came out of a terrible marriage.  Give it a rest,” roared Alexander Simba. 

“You are such a pussy footing shmuck” screeched Simone, throwing a book at him.

Chloe, who was sitting on her balcony with a drink and cigarette, overheard the entire quarrel.  Alexander had been married to her baby sister, Lucy Cougar. 

“You go girl,” she whispered to Simone when she heard the object thump and Alexander emit a loud roar. 

            Chris Simba stood staring at his reflection in the bathroom mirror in his apartment in Lyon Towers.  He was certainly handsome enough – endowed with that Simba male look that drove the females into frenzy.  Only those looks didn’t seem to work for Chris.  Having been married three times to Zambia, the leopard model, Laura Leo, the nut case, and Christine Cheetah, he was desperate to find lasting love.  He certainly had enough offspring.  Laura had produced three cubs with him and Christine had gifted him with five at a drop, causing their marital   difficulties.  These days, his kids with Laura were away at boarding school and the ones Christine had borne him, still lived with her.  He had bought some Dolce & Gabana cologne which he knew Shane used.  Shane drove every female he ever looked at completely gaga.  Chris sprayed some sparingly on his mane.  He hoped it would work the same wonders for him.  He was about to spend the evening at the Watering Hole Pub.

Chris Simba, director of the Nathan Leoparde Memorial Foundation

            Shane was reading the paper the evening he arrived home from Mt. Elgon.  His family were in the bush house for the weekend.  The go-away birds flew back and forth in the yard with their distinctive cries.  Solly came and crawled on his lap.  Betty joined them, looking freshly showered, the scent of her perfume clinging about her.  She sat down and asked the servant for a mango juice.  Later at dinner they were joined by Staci, Lee Simba and Sean, fresh from soccer practice.  The conversation was jovial and innovative. 

            Betty pulled back the covers and got into bed.  She was naked and pushed herself closely against Shane’s body. 

“No, Betty,” he said. “Not tonight.”

“Don’t tell me you have a headache,” she giggled with no real humor in her voice.   

“No, merely tired and you are supposed to be in a delicate condition, remember?”

“Don’t use that as an excuse, Shane, when the real reason is that you had enough sex with that harlot on your trip.”

He jumped from the bed, faster than lightening and walked to her side, where she lay cowering under the sheet.  He bent over her.

“Betty, we made a deal, remember?  Another cub for my loving Jane.”

“Love?  Did you say love?”

“Of course it is love, did you think otherwise?”

“I thought she was just another mistress that you would tire of very soon,” she cried. 

“No, Betty, not that at all - I’m deeply in love with her and very much committed to what we share.”

He got back in the bed and turned the lights out.  He was soon asleep leaving his wife to stare into the darkness for hours.