CHAPTER 55:  SPOTTING THE LEOPARD

	Simba was walking restlessly along a well worn path through the 
jungle, his feet making no sound as they padded along the trail.  He 
paused, glancing down at the far end where it ended, the trees beginning 
to thin out at the limit of his vision.  A slight smile rose as he set 
about carefully marking the unseen boundary between the savannah and the 
forest.  Grouchy old booger, he thought.  Come in HERE and I'LL show you 
a thing or two.  He longed to trot down to the end of the path and roll 
under that delightful sky once again, but dared not; he was still not 
fully grown, and he was well aware of the difference between boldness 
and foolishness.
	As he turned to leave, the sharp crack of a tree limb above 
reached him, and he ducked sidewise, expecting to see the colorful 
splash of a rotten fruit strike near him.  Stupid monkeys, he thought 
irritably.  He was smart enough not to look straight up.  There had been 
times before when he had caught a ripe fruit right in the face.
	Instead of a fruit, however, an antelope fell out of the tree and 
plopped on the ground right in front of him.  As he stared, shocked, a 
voice floated down from above.
	"Damn!  Of all the times to drop something!"
	It was a female voice, a melodious catlike voice but not a 
lioness.  Moments later, a large leopardess came bounding down the trunk 
with the intensity of a vertical run.  She pounced on the antelope and 
said, "Mine!  Buzz off!"
	Taken aback, Simba looked up in the tree and back at her.  "You 
got that all the way up there?"
	The leopardess glared at him.  "What of it?"
	"Well, I just thought...."  He looked at her and at the antelope.  
"Did you have help?"
	She half smiled.  "No.  I did it by myself.  Haven't you ever seen 
a leopard do that before?"
	"I've never seen a leopard before."  He looked at her 
appraisingly.  "Those spots are so--so neat!"
	She purred.  "I've seen you here before, and I've always wanted to 
ask.  How did a lion like you get in a forest like this?"
	"Long story," Simba said with a shrug.
	"You hang out with those two?"
	Simba knew immmediatley whom she was referring to.  "Well, uh, 
yeah.  What of it?"
	"Oh nothing.  I just thought I've never seen you with another lion 
before.  But there are a lot of strange things in this forest.  Like 
that pair of hyenas."
	"Gur'bruk and Kambra?"
	"You know them?  They healed my shoulder once."
	"What do you know!  They saved my life once."
	"Small world, isn't it?"  With a quick snatch of her powerful 
jaws, the antelope was on its way up the tree.  In five or six bounds of 
her powerful legs, the prey was cached away in the branches.
	"Whoa!  I'd give anything to know how to do that!"
	She came bounding down again.  It was always disconcerting to 
Simba when she did that.
	"Let me get this straight.  You're grown and you don't know how to 
hunt?"
	"Yeah."  Simba looked away.
	"Didn't your mother teach you anything?"
	Simba looked at the ground.  His ears and tail drooped.  "She 
didn't get a chance.  My dad gave me a few pouncing lessons."
	"And?"
	"He died when I was very little."
	"I'm sorry.  So have you scavenged all this time?"
	"No, ma'am.  I've eaten bugs."
	"Bugs??"  
	"These guys helped me.  I don't know what I would have done 
without them."
	It brought out some of the motherly feelings in her.  The corners 
of her mouth twitched.  "I lost a cub once.  I had a lot of things I 
wanted to tell her, and they've been bottled up inside me.  Look, if you 
wait till I chow down, I'll give you a couple of lessons, OK?"
	"Neat!"


CHAPTER 56:  CATS LIKE US

	The leopardess had a leisurely meal in the tree.  She did not 
offer to share her meal, and she was not asked.  Timon and Pumbaa 
watched her pull off strips of the fresh meat and mince them with a look 
of pleasure before swallowing.  Timon stared at her hungrily, running 
the tip of his tongue slowly around his lips.  "Look at that, Pumbaa!  
That's how real people live."
	Pumbaa said nothing, but his stomach complained periodically.  
Simba was quite content to watch her.  Part of his missing heritage 
would be given him, and he awaited the wonderful secrets she would 
impart with open-mouthed wonder.  "Imagine, me a hunter!  A hunter like 
my mother before me!"
	Pride began to swell in his chest, and he hadn't even tried his 
luck at it yet.
	Finally as the sun was getting low in the sky, she nosed the 
carcass and it fell out of the branches.  Stretching in her precarious 
perch, she yawned, shook herself, and ambled down the tree.  "You 
ready?"
	"Yes ma'am!"
	"Lose the `yes ma'am.'  My name's Mikosi."
	"I'm Simba."
	"Glad to meet you at last."  She nuzzled him.
	"I'm Timon, if anyone cares.  This is my friend Pumbaa."
	Without even glancing in their direction, Mikosi continued.  "If 
you're going to learn from me, you must do what my cub would have done.  
Speak when spoken to, and then very softly.  Every word we say is an 
enemy, seeking to betray us.  Do you agree to this?"
	Simba nodded quietly.
	"You learn fast, I'll grant you."
	For nearly two hours, she gave him lessons on stalking, running 
after prey, and staying downwind.  Timon and Pumbaa watched with 
horrified fascination at the list of killing tactics, especially when 
she used them as examples in laying out an approach.
	Then when the moon disappeared behind a cloud and the forest was 
cloaked in inky darkness, she said, "Let's do it!"
	He did exactly what she told him to do.  And to his absolute 
amazement and hers he brought down a small antelope on his very first 
try!
	"Maybe it's beginner's luck.  But you earned this."
	Mikosi dipped her paw in the blood and made a pawprint on his 
cheek.  "Somewhere out there your parents are proud of you."
	Before Simba could eat, she dragged the carcass up a nearby tree!
	"Hey!  Bring that back down here!  I didn't even get a bite!"
	"This is my payment for showing you where to hunt, big boy," she 
teased, chewing contentedly.  "Next lesson: guard your prey from jealous 
eyes.  That's why I climb trees."
	"But that's my first!  I want to know what it tastes like!"
	"I'll describe it to you."
	"We could share."
	"We certainly could.  But what would be the fun in that?"
	"It would be nice and friendly."
	Simba extended his claws and began to shinny up the rough-barked 
tree with absolute determination in his eyes.
	She stopped chewing, her claws flicking out as she hugged the limb 
for balance.  "W-What are you DOING?!"
	He flailed clumsily, trying to ascend and keep his own balance.  
"I'm going to join you for dinner, hon."
	"STOP!"  The tree, not that big to begin with, began to sway 
drunkenly.  "You're too big, imbecile!"
	"Well I'm getting smaller by the minute.  I'm hungry."
	CRAAACK!!!!
	Splinters shot up in a spray and sap spewed into the air in 
haphazard patterns as the tree surrendered, shredding at its lower end 
to come tumbling down with a crash.  As it neared the ground, the end of 
the tree snapped clear of the stump, pistoning out and jarring the cats, 
sending them flying clear.  The gazelle was not so lucky; Mikosi had 
wedged it into a fork of the tree to keep it from falling, and she did 
her job well; it remained there all the way to the ground, where it was 
obliterated by the smashing weight of the trunk.
	Mikosi shook her head blearily, staring at Simba as he staggered 
to his feet.  "You're crazy!"
	"Well look.  I don't mind hunting with you if you play fair, OK?  
Let's set down some rules here and now.  Those that work, eat."
	She looked into his angry eyes, expecting the worst.  He went over 
to the fallen tree, pulling what remained of the carcass out and 
starting to eat as she watched hungrily.  The sensation of eating meat 
stirred him, and he remembered old feelings and old friends from long 
ago.  A shudder of deep emotion went through him.  He'd finished more 
than half of it, but then he backed back a little.  "Won't you join me, 
Mikosi?"
	"Really?"
	"Yeah.  When I say something, I mean it."
	She came up tentatively beside him, snatching a quick bite and 
chewing, relaxing when he ignored her and started to eat again.  
"Friends?"
	"Friends."
	She kissed his cheek.  "You're rather special, you know that?"
	Abruptly a low growl issued from the trees behind them.  They 
turned to see another leopard descending, his flat yellow glare fixed on 
Mikosi. "Gods, this is SICK!  You'll go with ANYTHING!  I thought you 
were just having an affair, but my gods, this is SICK!"
	"He's just a friend!  He'd never been around his own kind, and I 
thought I'd show him how to--well--you know!"
	The male leopard moaned.  "That's what I was afraid of!"  She 
tried to explain, but he would hear none of it.  He told Simba, "Get 
out, you home wrecker!  Out, out out!!!!"  
	"I just trying to satisfy my appetite."
	"Oh gods!  I don't want to hear the sordid details!  Take your 
`appetite' as you call it and GET OUT!!!"
	As Simba padded away slowly, he couldn't help but hear the heated 
argument behind him as the leopard berated Mikosi.  "Tell me he didn't!  
Tell me you didn't!"
	"You jealous fool," she hissed.  "What if we did!  You think you 
can come waltzing into my life every few months and tell me how to run 
my affairs??"
	In fury, he bellowed, "DID YOU??"
	"NO!" Simba shouted.  "Absolutely not!  No way!  Forget it kid!  
I'm out of here!"
	"I thought you were very special!" she called after Simba.
	"Special??"  The leopard ran and blocked Simba's escape.  "Hey 
Fire Flanks, you want her, you fight for her!  Come on, lion!  I'll 
fight you to the death!"
	"But I don't want to fight you!"
	"Are you saying she's not worth it!  You made it with my wife, 
then you leave her flat??  I'd kill you for that, or die trying!"
	"Look," Simba said.  "It's really you she loves.  I mean hey, she 
cried out your name by mistake.  It's a real turn-off when someone yells 
`Oh Oswego' in a moment of passion."
	The leopard's hackles raised and he began to tremble with 
unstoppable rage.  Just as Timon and Pumbaa were wishing they were on 
another continent, the leopard shrilly screamed, "I'M NOT OSWEGO!!  MY 
NAME IS HAMBA!!"
	He pushed past Simba and barreled after the leopardess at top 
speed.  When all was still, and the trio had gone safely into the 
forest, Timon said, "Yesss!!" and high-fived Simba.  "Gods, what an 
inspiration!!"


CHAPTER 57:  TO SLEEP, PERCHANCE TO DREAM

	Simba listened enraptured to the soft voice of the leopardess.  
"You are special," she purred alluringly.  "Friends?"
	"Friends."
	"You can't have him," a lioness voice said from the bushes.  "He 
doesn't belong in the trees like a leopard.  He belongs in the open with 
me."  It was Sasha.
	The lioness twitched her head for him to follow.  He left the 
leopardess behind and followed her.  
	Soon he found himself back in the open savanna where his heart 
belonged.  Sasha came to him and nuzzled him slowly and gently, pawing 
his face and then slinking softly down his full length.  "Isn't this 
better?"
	"Much."
	"Jomo is not around.  We have this to ourselves."
	A smile warmed the corners of her shapely mouth and her eyes half 
closed.  She rolled on her back in the rich grass, taking in a deep 
breath and letting it slowly out.  "Simba."
	He smiled, drifting alongside her warm body and lowering his bulk 
with such grace that the grass whispered in answer.  He looked over into 
her soft hazel eyes and rolled on his back, snuggled against her 
graceful body.  A feeling of peace and contentment swept over him like a 
calm wind, blowing his worries and doubts away and leaving only the 
essence of his wondering soul.
	As they lay next to each other, she reached over with an 
adventurous paw and began to explore his soft mane and feel his 
heartbeat.  Simba grunted his approval, his eyes half closed in 
satisfaction.  "Oh yes, you know what I like."
	"I know what you like," she said mischievously, and she began to 
widen her explorations.
	His eyes opened wide.  "Hey!"
	She gazed at him longingly.  "It's what you want, isn't it?"
	"Well, I...."
	She licked his face slowly and passionately.  "You can't hide it 
from me.  It's been on your mind since we met."
	"Well, I...."
	"It's all right, honey tree.  Really it is.  It's what I want 
too."  She reached over with a paw again, starting at his chest and 
slowly, steadily setting him on fire.  "Make love to me, Simba."
	"OK.  But it's going to be my first time."  He rolled over and got 
to his feet.  "Do you still want me?"
	She looked up at him and smiled.  "Yes."  She rolled over smoothly 
into a crouch.  "Don't be afraid.  You're so timid, just like a little 
cub."  She licked out the end of her tongue in a kiss.  "I think you're 
kind of cute."
	Suddenly, Jomo came running toward them.  "Get away!  Get away 
from her!"
	The two squared off, and Simba flailed at him, claws out.  Jomo 
was bold, but to the point of overconfidence.  He did not expect a firm 
defense, and Simba struck at him, catching him on the side of the face.
	Stunned, Jomo fell back, and Simba rained blow after blow on him 
almost unopposed.
	Soon Simba prevailed.  He saw the vanquished foe at his feet, but 
rather than beg for mercy, the lion said, "Everything I had is yours.  
But before you make love to her, why don't you tell her I'm the second 
lion you killed.  Your own father's blood is on your paws!"
	Simba looked at him and realized it was his Uncle Scar.  
	"No!"  Simba backed up.  "I didn't kill him!" he stammered.  "I 
swear I didn't!  It was an accident!"
	Taka glared at him as he lay mortally wounded, his life draining 
away with each beat of his heart.  "It's all your fault!  If you hadn't 
messed up, he'd still be alive.  Go away and never come back!"
	"It's NOT my fault!  It's NOT!"
	Simba sruggled awake, striking out at the bare air in his efforts 
to escape the nightmare.  Breathing rapidly, his heart pounding, he sat 
in the still heat of the jungle, the humid air stifling him and making 
each breath an effort.  At last his heat slowed, and he reclined back 
onto the leaves, his fur soaked in sweat.  His eyes flicked up to the 
dark canopy of leaves overhead, and for the first time in months, he 
wept bitterly, the tears falling silent onto the forest loam.

Bookmark/Search this post with:

delicious | digg | reddit | newsvine | furl | google | yahoo | technorati