SV 4

This is part 4 of a continuing story.

The lion was, as lions go, not very big, which accounted in part for his traveling alone. Not being able to whip up, as it were, on his fellow pridesmen, he had been relegated to the kitty end of the dining table and the pickings there were usually quite slim; a bit of grizzle, the odd bone and such. He was forced, therefore, to seek out dietary supplements in the form of food he could steal from smaller animals and edibles he found just lying about. The latter, of course, was most in abundance when humans camped in the neighborhood. Leo we’ll call him, because it means lion in one of those everyday African dialects such as Swahili or Zodiaci, didn’t particularly like humans as they smelled ghastly and moved about on their hind legs like bizarre, featherless and flightless birds. A gray-maned old timer had once told him that, in a pinch, men were edible, but not nearly so tasty as warthog. Leo had no desire to find out if this was true, but his growling gut compelled him to push his way through the tent flap and into this odd human cave.

“Shreeeeek” screamed Lady Sackable or rather something like it. The actual sound eludes transcription here as there were high notes available only to dogs and banshees.

“Bloody hell, bloody hell, bloody hell” was Mile’s contribution, one that was admittedly a bit of a broken record at that.

The most startled of all, however, was Leo as the teeming rain had eliminated any warning odors and he had burst into the tent unaware of its peopled condition. Before he had time to think, never his strong point anyway, a short series of loud, frightened roars had forcefully escaped his throat. Animal translators would later determine these sounds to mean either “Oh My God” or in the case of MGM, “Relax and Enjoy the Movie.”

For a brief moment, three lives flashed before six eyes and then Miles, a man of action, acted. He leaped behind Lady Sackable, clutched her by the shoulders and pushed her forward as a human shield. Years later, remembering this day, he would still feel no remorse at his actions, because as he was quick to point out, “Come on! It was a lion!”

Fortunately for Miles, his less than heroic performance went unnoticed by our heroine as at the very moment of the deed, Lady Sackable fainted dead away. The consequence of her leaving the consciousness scene was that Miles was abruptly caught with a dead weight on his hands and, in trying to adjust, stumbled backwards and onto the bed, pulling Lady Ess atop him. They had just hit the mattress when Noblong reentered the room.

To be continued.