“I see,” Yolanda said. “I have a question for your mother next time I see her.”
Kombi ran on his merry way. Togo watched him go and became restless. “Well, I guess I better go.”
“Come on, Togo!”
Togo looked into Yolanda’s eyes and drew close. His pink tongue shot out and touched the tip of her nose. “I gotta go.”
“I understand,” Yolanda said, kissing him. “Come back--later.”
Yolanda smiled and laid her head down on the soft grass. “That Togo is such a dear,” she muttered softly. “If I was a few years younger, I’d want a son just like him.”
Dealing with the cubs was her special pleasure, and it had become her job since her loss of speed and strength on the hunt had made her more valuable as a cub setter. Once in a while she would follow along on the hunt in search of her lost youth. Just a week ago, she brought down a gazelle, and it did wonders for her self esteem. But for the moment the wonders she needed would be found in a good nap.
“Merciful Aiheu,” she whispered, “I love them all, but let me get some sleep? Remember old Yolanda who loves you.”
Lisani came treading quietly toward her. Yolanda glanced up and sighed. “Maybe you’re getting a little hard of hearing with age? Please, Lord?” She glanced back at Yolanda with a forced smile. “You came by to ask old Yolanda for a story? Maybe a quick question?”
Lisani yawned. “Not now. I’m too tired.”
Lisani rubbed her cheek against Yolanda’s face, then she snuggled quietly next to her chest. Yolanda draped her paw over Miss Priss and smiled sweetly. “Thank you, Aiheu. Maybe your ears are still sharp.” And with Lisani’s tiny, soft body cuddled to her, she grunted with contentment and finally fell asleep.
THE PATH OF THE DEAD:
Beesa was funny and sweet and when you looked at her beautiful face, her eyes shone like a warm nuzzle. She was a good and patient mother, and everyone who knew her loved her. And when the moon stood at its zenith enchanting the acacia trees with a silver luster, an angry elephant crushed her body and left her there to die.
Small Lisani huddled by her Aunt Isha and trembled. The enormity of her mother’s death was an inescapable burden wounding her cubhood innocence to the core.
When Lisani was alone with Isha, she worked up nerve enough to ask a question--THE question.
“How did it happen?”
“We had been hunting all night, but by midmoon we had nothing to show it. By the moonlight we could see the small group of elephants in the distance, but Uzuri told us to ignore them. But you know your mother--Beesa saw that a calf had strayed too far from the group and she must have thought she could cut it off and out of the herd.
“Uzuri was calling out our sweep pattern. We were going with the fork pattern, and she was going to lead the left wing. She wanted Beesa in the trail spot, but didn’t see her anywhere. She asked about your Mom, but no one had seen her.
Then Malaika saw her. There was this big elephant cow sneaking up behind Beesa. Uzuri shouted for her to watch out, but by the time your mom turned around it was too late. That elephant charged her and tossed her like a twig, then it stomped on her.”
Lisani gasped deeply and let it out in a shrill shriek. As tears streamed down her face, she ran in tight circles shrieking, then bit herself on the flank so hard that a few red drops stained her fur. “Oh gods!” she shrieked almost incoherently. “Oh gods! Mommy! I love you, Mommy! Oh gods, it stepped on you! Oh gods! I love you! I love you Mommy! Can you hear me?? I love you!”
“Shh, honey tree!” Isha stopped her with a large paw and drew her to her side. “Shh, honey tree. Let it out on me. Isha’s here.”
Lisani buried her face in the soft fur of Isha’s side and shrieked while her aunt gently cleaned and soothed the wound on her leg. She sobbed. Then after a while it died down to a soft, mournful weeping that lasted for what seemed like an eternity. In the night sky, the two brothers had ascended, and the moon had long passed its zenith. Isha had seemed to drowse off, but her eyes never completely closed.
Finally Lisani spoke again. “Aunt Isha? Are you awake?”
“Yes, Honey Tree. I won’t sleep till you do.”
Lisani rubbed her face against Isha’s and kissed her repeatedly. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“Be careful, Aunt Isha. You’re all I have left,” Lisani said. “If you died, I’d have to do my own hunting.”
Isha wept. “Oh child! What a thing to say!”
“Can I go see her?”
“No, Miss Priss.”
“Please??”
“Her body will be corban for a moon--those are the rules, and your mother would want you to obey them. I said good-bye for you.”
“Why are those the rules? Who makes these rules? Taka? He makes stupid rules--everyone says so!”
“Never let him hear you say that! You could get into trouble. But these were not his rules: They were made long ago because we go back to the earth from which our bodies came and our spirits go back to God from which they came. We are not to interfere with that. Aiheu’s pretty smart. He knows what he’s doing. When we die, he gathers us up and takes us to be with him, and he misses no one, no matter how big or small. Now the important point is that death is not an end in itself but a continuing of the path. This life is like swimming across a deep river. If you seek to avoid death, it is like swimming in circles forever, never reaching the other side.”
“But she wasn’t even old! She still had a lot of time left! It’s not fair!”
“I agree. It’s not fair. But honey tree, she left the world a better place than she found it. Her life had beauty and meaning, and through you a part of her goes on.” Isha nuzzled and kissed her.
Lisani considered her words carefully. “What happens then? After you die? I mean, what does it feel like?”
“I’m not sure, honey tree. But if God is there, it must be good. If only you could go to see Rafiki, I think he knows more about it than anyone else in the Pride Lands. Tomorrow I’ll see if I can get you to him. It’s the least they can do--this whole mess was their fault.”
Lisani lay next to Isha and Habusu and tried to sleep. But sleep was denied her. There was grief for sure, but there was also uncertainty. The dawn would not come--the night seemed a dreary eternity. So she finally decided to act on her own.
After a while, when Isha and Habu were asleep, she went across the sleepy savanna toward Rafiki’s baobab.
The guard stopped her at the perimeter of his confinement. The hyena looked down at her with some amusement at first, then he recognized her. He reached out with a paw, and Lisani shrank back, but he gently rubbed her shoulder and cheek. “Hello, Miss Priss. I’m so sorry about your mother. You know, my mother died when I was your age.”
“She did?”
“Yeah. My name’s Krull. You remember me, don’t you?”
“Isha says you’re one of the good ones.”
“Well that’s nice to know. You shouldn’t be out here after dark. It’s not safe.”
“I need to see Rafiki. I need it real bad.”
“Does Isha know you’re out here?”
“No. Don’t tell her, please?”
“I won’t. But it’s dangerous out here late at night.”
“Do you need any help?” one of the other guards asked.
“Sure. I thought I was done for till you got here. Save me!”
“You made your point, sir. But you know she’s not allowed here.”
Krull straightened up to full height. “You idiot, don’t you know who this is?? It’s Beesa’s daughter!”
“Oh.” The other hyena, who didn’t look anywhere as kind, stared at her. “So it is. Sorry about your mom and all. But no one gets to see Rafiki--orders of the Roh’mach.”