Maurice & Friends

Sloane Simba went to see Caroline Cheetah. It was a very early morning that found her drinking coffee in her breakfast room. He poured himself a cup from the silver coffee pot and sat down.

“Why did you jump from bed last night? There were no explanations forthcoming,” stated Caroline, lighting a cigarette.

“It was the hospital calling. I have a daughter. I’ve never felt the way I feel about her before, Caroline. I felt something give in my heart.”

Caroline sensed the seriousness in Sloane’s voice and didn’t answer in her usual biting manner.

“Is she okay? Isn’t she early?”

“Yes, but she is said to be very fit. I held her and fell in love, Caroline.”

“Good for you, Sloane. It will be good for you to love something besides yourself.”

Caroline could never depart from being herself for significant amounts of time.

The First Church of the Ascending Predator was banked in ginger lilies and freesias. Candles flickered in tall candelabra against the walls on both aisles. The occasion was a wedding bonding the two most powerful lion prides in Kenya. The lovely bride came down the aisle on the arm of her superstar father, Roy Lee Simba. Stella Simba looked lovely and radiant as she made her way to the altar where her sister, Leah Simba Lyon waited as her matron of honor. Her half sister, Lee Simba and first cousin, Staci Simba, were among her bridesmaids. Her groom, Daniel Lyon stood with his handsome brothers, Ashley, Lewis, Junior and Charley and some I didn’t recognize. Ralph Lyon, Mildred, Doris, Maude and Elsa sat in the groom’s family pew. They rose from the pews to join in that stirring and marvelous British hymn, Jerusalem. Betty sat with her president husband on the Simba side of the aisle. I was with Lachlan and looked about the room. All the recent heads of Kenya populated this sanctuary. While singing the magnificent hymn, I felt a lump in my throat. I had been privileged to be a major player in their lives, both personal and political. A single tear slid, unannounced, down my cheek.

And then it was on to the Predator Club which glittered for this occasion having been chosen for the power reception of the year. Lachlan, Bertram Baboon and I sat at the Lyon’s table with old friends, Bernard and Sylvia Cougar. There were two orchestras in two different banquet rooms playing the varying musical styles. It was a truly festive evening. It culminated in the bride tossing her bouquet, which was caught by Staci Simba who gave her father a devilish look. They took off for Mombasa and the presidential yacht for a cruise to the Seychelles.

Daniel and Stella at their wedding and reception.....

Lachlan was spending the night with me. We kicked off our shoes before a fire and rehashed the wedding and reception.

“Maurice, do you know how privileged you are to be a part of the history of Kenya? To also be asked by the new president to play the same role? I am in awe of your position. I think it is incredible.”

I placed a hand on his paw.

“I am so lucky, Lachlan. I have this wonderful position with Shane and before this with Ralph. Daniel, Shane and I are working so well together. But my greatest piece of luck is to have met you. I had suffered so in love before. Now I feel as if I am enclosed in a protected and tranquil harbor.”

“I will always keep it that way for you, Maurice.”

I believed this to be so in the very depths of my heart.

Sloane Simba paid a visit to his ex-wife, Caitlin Cougar. She was propped in the clinic bed nursing their newborn daughter. She received him warmly enough without being overenthusiastic. She was impressed at his obvious adoration of their cub. Sloane picked his small daughter from her mother’s arms after the feeding. He held her close and walked her about the room crooning softly.

“What are you going to name her, Caitlin?”

“The court official came yesterday, Sloane. I named her Georgia Leander Simba for your mother and mine.”

Sloane stopped pacing with the baby and looked at Caitlin in surprise.

“That was very decent of you, Caitlin. I’m very moved by that gesture.”

“I have always loved your mother since we first met.”

“She loves you too. So do I, Katy.”

“I want you to be a part of our baby’s life, Sloane. You may visit her and take her whenever you want to, barring other plans I might have for her.”

“Can we get back together, Caitlin? I will try to be better with you.”

“No, Sloane. You have hurt me too badly. But we can share our daughter in a loving way.”

“Does Steven play some role in your not returning to me?”

“I don’t think so, Sloane. He has just been a wonderful friend to me. We have never been lovers, if that is what you’re thinking.”

Sloane was silent as he gently laid small Georgia Leander in her mother’s arms. He placed a kiss on Caitlin’s brow before leaving.

Caroline Cheetah was an anathema to most. Very similar to her edgy deceased sister, Catherine, she had known when to set straight her more destructive qualities. She was back on top with her cooking show; had sent her book to the publisher and was, once more, on top of her game. She had given birth to Shane Simba’s illegitimate son. The one thing Caroline had not curbed was her acid personality. I don’t think she really cared to. She had almost gone ‘camp’ with her bitchiness, conceding it to a near art form. She seemed to be the mainstay of the disturbed Sloane Simba these days. He was a constant visitor at the elegant apartment she rented from Lucy Cougar Simba. The two had many things in common: self-centeredness as an almost second skin, narcissism and a sex drive that bordered on lethal. I may have left out the two most important ingredients – drop dead looks. Their verbal sparring created a strong sexual surge in both. One thing did change, however. Once Sloane fell totally in love with his tiny cub, he viewed Caroline’s son (who also happened to be a nephew) in a different light. He began to join Caroline at Starbucks on Sunday and Saturday afternoons when the young parents gathered with their offspring to drink coffee and allow their children the delights of the adjoining Ben & Jerry’s ice cream concession. He looked forward to the day when he could bring young Georgia Leander here. He wondered often if he didn’t really love Caroline, with his desire to return to Caitlin just a protest to her seeing his brother, Steven.

His brother, Alexander Simba’s life was on another footing entirely. Married to Lucy Cougar and the father of three cubs that were hard won, he plowed through acres of work at Simba Brothers law firm and returned to a comfortable domestic scene in the evening. Lucy kept making noises about getting pregnant again. Unknown to her, Alexander had engaged in what he hoped was a reversible vasectomy. Lucy was awful to deal with during pregnancy. The couple had broken up twice due to the angst she created in her husband during those times. Now they were back together and although bells no longer rang for Alexander, he muddled his way through and helped create a good and happy home for their cubs.

Steven Simba paid his first visit to Caitlin Cougar since the evening he had taken her to the hospital to give birth. He had lain low, deciding that it was his brother’s right to have first dibs at reuniting with the lovely cougar who was now the mother of his cub. It was a phone call from Caitlin that drew him back. She had invited him for dinner and to see the new baby. He arrived bearing good wines from Margaux’s fine wine and meats shop. Caitlin had the small cub in a basket in the corner of her den. Steven leaned over the crib noticing that the little female resembled a cougar more than a lion. Her eyes were open and very blue. He picked her up and admired her. Caitlin, in a very artless gesture, opened her blouse and began to nurse her daughter. Steven found it very erotic.

They had drinks and beef brisket for dinner. Steven, after cognac and a final cigarette, got up to leave. Caitlin came close and gave him a kiss on the lips. That was all it took. The two had harbored a longing for each other for a protracted time. Now they consummated it. Once again, two Simba brothers were embroiled with the same female at the same time. It had caused bitterness between Sam and Shane Simba when both had loved Betty Chimpo. This had only begun to dissolve in recent times due to Shane’s asking Sam to remain as his minister of justice. One wondered what havoc the current situation would wreak.

President Shane Simba went into the coffers of his country and with the help of the Leoparde Family Bank of Kenya, the Lyon Pride Corporation and Simba Pride Corporation as well as a hefty contribution from building magnate, Lewis Lyon, allotted a huge amount of money to bring AIDS prevention anti-viral drugs to Kenya. This was his first major act as our new president. Taking a clue from this, former President, Ralph Lyon put aside his golf clubs and toured some other African nations and Europe with Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela. Their objective was to solicit more funding for the Clinton Trust. The group was gifted with a new airbus by Ralph’s son, Lewis Lyon. The plane’s sides were emblazoned with AIDS KENYA. Shane and Betty hosted Steven Lewis, the AIDS activist associated with the United Nations, at the State Mansion.

Linda Cougar was allowed to go home for six weeks. Lachlan felt that her trip to the stricken village with Betty, Mildred and Lisa had done a great deal toward focusing the young female on things other than herself. She was allowed only her father and stepmother’s home as a venue for her first sojourn from the Mental Health Center. She went each day to Betty’s office in the State House where she worked with Bernice Bear, Mildred and sometimes Lisa, on plans for further trips to troubled AIDS riddled villages.

Across the savanna in the infamous house rented by some of the Simba brothers, Sidney overdosed. He was barely alive when the ambulance brought him to the Exotic Animal Clinic. One could only guess that the leopard drug dealer, possibly finding the lion male comatose, was thoughtful enough to call for an ambulance. The house was cleaned, redecorated, and generally spruced up by the disgruntled landlord and placed, once again, for rent. It was decided that when Sidney spent the allotted time in rehab under Lachlan Lion, he would return to the home of his mother, Leander Simba.

The proud parents stood at the altar of the First Church of the Ascending Predator, holding their cub for the Reverend Saul Serval to baptize. Sloane and Caitlin looked dewily at each other as the preacher placed holy water on the head of their infant. A reception for the invited was held at Sylvia and Bernard Cougar’s home. After the very elegant party, Sloane went off to seek Caroline Cheetah. Caitlin walked next door with her infant. She was expecting Steven for dinner. He was bringing lobster and champagne to celebrate the day. He had felt it best not to attend the christening.

Sloane and his new born daughter, Georgia Leander Simba at the altar in the church.......

Shane, having learned a lesson about divulging dirty little secrets, never alluded to or told Betty of his close call with the dancer in Las Vegas. Instead he made it up to her by becoming even more impassioned. They made love every night in the seclusion of their glamorous bedroom in the State Mansion. At the State House, he would stop by her office when he had a break and put his arms around her despite who might be present. They spent wonderful weekends in their new home on the savanna. He was greatly relieved that he had, when put to the test, done the right thing. He loved Betty deeply and there was no reason that he could justify for hurting her even if she never knew. Unlike the testy Catherine, Betty was all about loving him, rarely speaking a cross word to him. She was wonderful to his children too. With that basis, the couple grew even closer. Their bond was becoming deep and lasting.

Daniel and Stella (Simba) Lyon returned from their glorious honeymoon cruise on the presidential yacht. They moved into Daniel’s bungalow in the Lyon Pride Compound. Stella returned to filming her first movie at her father’s studio. Daniel rolled up his sleeves and tackled affairs of State as the vice president. He and Shane Simba were doing remarkably well together. Theirs was a relationship built on growing respect, admiration and just plain like.

An added plus to living with her new husband in his pride’s compound, was the close proximity of the retired president and first lioness. Stella got to know them at the lively gatherings that occurred among the Lyon’s kith and kin. Stella simply adored the give and take of Daniel’s pride. There was the wonderful Dr. Sylly Cougar Lyon and her husband, Junior. Old Maude Lyon began to warm to her daughter-in-law despite what seemed to be a generic distaste for the Simba pride. Of course, with the irascible old lioness, ‘warming’ wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. There were still snarls and groans but they became peppered with small pats and smiles. Stella and Daniel were very happy and felt it was a glorious thing – their marriage. The newly weds spent a great deal of time in the company of her sister and his brother, Ashley and Leah Lyon. There they became close to Luke Leoparde and his girlfriend, Jane the lioness. It was a happy-happy all the way around.

Staci Simba allowed her caught bridal bouquet from her cousin’s wedding to dry. Sometimes she held it to her in the darkness of her room and dreamed of marrying Tigger Tigeres when he returned from schooling in America. Staci was becoming as beautiful as her dead mother. She was athletic, slender, long of limb, and fetching in personality. The young males that inhabited her social strata among the schoolmates began to take notice. But in her dreams, Tigger Tigeres kicked his soccer ball in effortless fashion.