First, I just want to wish the best to all the fathers out there on this
list.

I gave it some serious thought during my vacation, and decided not to abandon
the fanfic I was working on.  I have another short story I wish to finish
first, but once it's out of the way (may even finish it tonight) I'll see
what I can do about turning my attention back to this one.

With that in mind, here is a teaser from the upcoming chapter....

<Usual disclaimers apply, etc>

Chapter 13 -- Questions And Accusations

The clouds that had been building on the horizon all day finally rode in on
the back of thunder, forcing Rafiki to retract his musings that his day could
not become any bleaker.  As the first fat drops of rain spattered to the
earth, he picked up his staff and new talisman and moved under the relative
shelter of a tree.  The sparse canopy did not offer complete cover from the
deluge, but it kept him dry enough lose himself in dark thoughts.

Another retort rolled down from the heavens, triggering an old memory in the
shaman; not of his mentor, but an older one of his father.

The young mandrill timidly approached the imposing elder and sat on his
haunches beside him.  The pair squatted in silence for many minutes, watching
the slow approach of a dark thunderhead.  Mistaking his father's indifference
for acceptance, the young mandrill felt emboldened to ask a question.

"Father, where does thunder come from?"

The latter grunted once, and remained quiet for such a long time that Rafiki
began to fear that he may have tripped the elder's legendarily bad temper.
Just as he was preparing to quietly take his leave, however, his father
finally spoke.  He pointed to the approaching clouds and said in a gruff
voice,

"Wildebeests.  When they die, their souls join the eternal herd in the sky.
The black clouds are the dust they stir up in their endless migration, and
the thunder is the pounding of their hooves.  Have you never heard a
wildebeest stampede?"

Young Rafiki's heart trilled for joy - in truth, he had not even expected his
father to answer him.  He knew it would be pushing his luck, but his mind was
a sponge for learning, and his father knew so much!  The child decided to
risk another question.

"And what of the lightning?"

As quick as an adder, the old mandrill lashed out and cuffed the young one
across the face.

"Don't you know anything?"  he snarled angrily.  "What a stupid lad you are,
with all your questions.  Go and play with all the other stupid children and
leave me in peace!"

The blow only stung momentarily, but the pain lingered much longer.  Rafiki
scurried off, hurt and confused, and it was only much later in life that he
began to understand his father.

"I should not have asked him the second question," he thought, as he curled
up around his staff, waiting out the present-day storm.  "He was so proud,
how could he tell a child that there were things in the world that he did not
know?"

Over the hiss of the rain, he heard the sound of footsteps approaching - two
lionesses, he surmised.  It was a confrontation that he had been expecting
since Udhia's death.  They were coming to demand answer of him, for questions
to which he knew no answer.

"Now I know how my father felt," he mused darkly.  "I wonder if I could just
cuff them and send them away?"

[end of preview]



		--from "The Lion King: Simba's Pride"