Shane and Alexandra introduce their newborns to the world in the WMM-TV station in the  Mara......

    On a moonlit evening after a round of pot smoking and drinking at Klip ‘n Dodi’s, Imani Lyon and Georgy Simba managed to get busted for driving under the influence. The distraught police chief Bubba Simba didn’t know what to do with these two high profile teenagers who were members of the Simba pride. Naturally in his dither, he placed a call to the pride honcho, Shane. Roy Lee Simba was in Paris with his wife, Janice, or Bubba would have sought his help.

"Shane," babbled his hapless brother. "I've got Imani Lyon and Georgy Simba in jail here. They were driving under the influence of something."

"Call Ashley Lyon and Sloane, Bubba. What the hell can I do? I've got enough on my plate."

Bubba wished he hadn’t notified Sloane, who was an absolute raving wreck and stormed through the police station, paying bail and retracting his sobbing cub. Ashley was a lot calmer and collected his daughter with something of a humorous slant.

"Imani, you may be more of a chip off the old block than I reckoned for," chuckled Ashley as he wrote a check and took his daughter home.

"I know, Dad," she giggled.

    Caroline Cheetah Simba gave a perceptible snarl as Sloane dragged Georgy to her room in his bush house and slammed the door behind them. There he read his daughter the riot act. The next day, Georgy was withdrawn from Predator High and admitted to St. Mary’s Convent School for Troubled Felines - one of former first lioness, Mildred Lyon's earlier projects. Her father sent a minion to Imani Lyon’s condo to pack and bring her clothing and personal effects to his house where she would be staying.

    Shane and Alexandra had just put the twins to bed. They slept in cribs in the couple’s bedroom in the mansion to be moved later to their beds in the nursery where the remainder of the night nannies would tend them.  The couple did need a certain amount of sleep in order to fulfill the duties of a presidential family. 

"I want to know all about Catherine. Was she a good mother?" probed Alexandra.

"She was a better mother than wife. When Staci was born she neglected her for a long time then came around.  She was very troubled and prone to emotional breakdowns. When Maurice gave her the job at the arts center, she turned around. Now to you - I want to hear more about Jean Paul, your first husband."

The couple had already tread a great deal of this turf in regard to their former mates but as those who are intensely in love, they wanted more of the same thing - a small matter of reaffirming how intensely they felt about this current marriage.  Lovers do enjoy these titillating sessions. 

"Jean Paul was French and a player. That’s why I fought my feelings for you, Shane. I knew you were the same."

"No longer, Alex. That’s a thing of the past with you. I can't imagine wanting anyone else or putting you through that sort of thing."

"Did Catherine have affairs?"

"One or two. I resented them but had been so unfaithful that I didn’t have a leg to stand on."

"Your marriage to her must have been rocky."

"It was. My union with Betty was also rocky. Only with you have I arrived in a serene and non-turbulent harbor."

"I will keep it that way, Luv. I do love you so."

"I cannot tell you how much I love you, Alex. You are my love and my darling."

Jack Tarzan had spent all evening with Solly Simba going over his homework.

Now he and Betty were on the veranda with drinks, chatting with Patsy and each other.

"Do you know what a special lad your little Solly is, Betty?" asked Jack.

"He is very different, isn't he, Jack?"

"He is a wonderful cub. You should be very proud of him, Betty. I certainly am."

"Did you know that Solly is a clone of Shane’s? I hesitated to tell you that for fear it might affect your love for him," admitted Betty.

"I am sure Shane Simba had all the right things when he was born. Life just changed him - it has a way of doing that. What about Jalil and Tarek, are they clones?"

"No, from Shane’s DNA and an unknown lioness."

"Let’s go to Samburu this weekend and take the cubs, Betty. Shane and Alexandra will be on an official trip and they will be remaining with us. We can do some camping."

"That’s a great idea, Jack. Let’s do that."

    Caitlin Cougar Leo was startled to discover that she was pregnant by Chris Simba. This was something of a mess. Her divorce from Homer Leo not yet finalized and Chris wasn’t big into fatherhood despite his eight cubs from other females. On top of that, Johanna Simba, the human wife that refused to divorce Chris, was causing neighborhood disturbances in the house she continued to rent from Caitlin. Enraged over the pictures of Shane and Alexandra’s beautiful offspring, she was getting unruly and drunk, walking around the neighborhood and accosting those who might be in their yards. Johanna, who had been pregnant by Shane and miscarried when he placed her in his penthouse alone, was extremely jealous of his happy marriage and parenthood with Alexandra. Caitlin was getting complaints by email from the neighborhood association about Johanna.

    Finally Chief Bubba Simba, who had much on his plate these days, arrested Johanna for public drunkenness when she tried to accost Gloria Chimpo Baboon as she entered her husband, Bertram’s home on Leoparde Drive. The neighbors congregated to take court action. Caitlin arrived in the Mara to testify that she wanted the problematical Johanna out of her house and on her way. Judge Bo Bonobo ruled in the neighbors' and Caitlin’s favor and Johanna was expelled from Caitlin’s home on Leoparde Drive.

    The Parisians went wild at the first state visit from Shane and Alexandra Simba since the birth of the twins. I was along, as was Amy Chui. The first couple of Kenya was mobbed wherever they went. They made a stunning twosome at the state dinner held in the Versailles Palace. Alexandra spoke fluent French with the President of France and his wife. If Shane Simba had been the equivalent of a presidential rock star before, it was nothing compared to the splash he made with his elegant and exquisite human wife at his side.

The first couple of Kenya at the banquet at Versailles in Paris.......

Chris Simba and Caitlin Cougar Leo try to resolve their differences....

"Obviously birth control is not an option for you, Cate," observed Chris Simba in a tone that was not lost on Caitlin with its hint of sarcasm.

She had just returned to Tanzania with a confirmation from Dr. Sylly Cougar Lyon that she was indeed preggers.

"I can return to my home in the Mara, Chris, if my condition is a burden to you. Your wife has been ordered to vacate my home on Leoparde Drive.

Caitlin lit a cigarette and gazed at her current lover until he was forced to speak.

"I have been happy here with you, Caitlin. Are you contented too?"

"Actually I am, Chris. Bells are not ringing over you but still, we do seem to exist well together."

"So I gather if the ‘bells are not ringing’ we don't need to wed after I get a divorce from Johanna?"

"Decidedly not. I bore my last cub out of wedlock, there’s no reason I can't do the same for this one or two - or whatever."

Chris suddenly softened and put his arms around Caitlin.

"Let’s play this thing by ear for the time being. I’m sure you don't want to return to the Mara and your defiant daughter. Let Sloane handle the situation for now."

"Yes, that’s what I will do. How about dinner out, I am tired from the trip?"

"We'll take in some barbecue at Wally’s pub here. It just opened last week."

"Ash, don’t you think you ought to take Imani back under your roof?" asked Ashley Lyon’s wife, Lucy Cougar Lyon.

"No indeed, Luce. Imani is legal age and will raise all manner of hell if I try to do that. She’s just sewing some wild oats. She'll move past this stage. This behavior runs in my pride in some members."

"I believe it is the Simba pride that she takes after, Ash."

"That too but my sister, Melanie, and I did a bit of acting out as well. So did Lisa before she married Larry Leo and became a solid citizen."

    Staci Simba wondered when President Pete Levin would field his first pass in her direction. They saw each other each evening when they both finished their work day. Until now it had been wonderful conversation with the occasional intense flirtation, almost like a mating ritual. Pete would draw so close that Staci could scent the expensive Dior cologne in his mane. They would stand that way for several seconds before he would withdraw. It seemed an endless dance until one night when the moon was high in the star filled sky above the Serengeti plains.

"Staci, do you know how much I want you?" he finally breathed into her neck.

"Maybe as much as I want you?" she purred.

That did it -- off to his overdressed boudoir they went.

Pete and Staci finally make it to the boudoir......

The First Church of the Ascending Predator in the Masai Mara......

   The media ringed the First Church of the Ascending Predator, jockeying for position pending the arrival of Shane and Alexandra Simba with their two babies who were to be baptized. They were loud and intrusive and became more so as the limousine pulled up to the church. The guards got out first and held the door for Alexandra and then Shane. They were both holding a baby.

    Inside, lilies banked the outer aisles, the scent wafting throughout the church. The invited packed the sanctuary. Shane and Alexandra stood at the font and dedicated their children to God. The little girl was baptized Tanya Lee Simba, the boy was christened Sacha Delamere Simba. Both middle names were a nod to the parent’s heritage. The godparents, Lewis and Gina Genet Lyon and Roy Lee and Janice Jaguar Simba stood with the couple. After a 30 minute photo taking session outside the church, the invited departed for a reception at the state mansion which was held in the garden. The day was lovely and filled with bird song as Alexandra and Shane went among their guests. Betty and Jack were invited and this time Jack attended. The uninvited Johanna Simba, being quite drunk, tried to crash the occasion and was tossed out by the Masai guards.

    I decided to renovate my home which I so happily share with Lachlan. I had inherited from Lawrence Leoparde and was embarrassingly wealthy. Lachlan was a psychiatrist and making big bucks at the mental health center and the Kenya Medical Facility. We decided to go ahead with the project. We would rent a suite at Lewis Lyon’s Four Season Hotel while the nastier aspects took place such as paint, falling plaster, etc. We would enjoy the luxuries of hotel life and gorge on the good things. I asked Lewis Lyon if he would take on our project. Of course he said he would place it on the front burner with his construction company.