Continuing the dedication of this story to my wife

Transition Plan Chapter 59: In His Majesty's Service Part 8

Now that the two children knew each other better, at least well enough for now to begin the journey to become friends, they were genuinely excited to do something with a little more action. For Jack, actually being with her was much more fun than tossing berries and nuts at her. Getting her back to her parents permitted him to really show her his jungle skills. He wanted her to be proud of his abilities, but wasn't sure why.

Jack proposed, "We won't walk like the soldiers. There's a safer and faster way find your mom and dad."

Jeanne actually didn't want to take a faster route back to her parents. They might not let her see this wonderful wild boy again, even though he was the Count's son. They were always so strict. But she was enjoying his company, so she encouraged him, "How do we do that, Jack?"

Jack stood up from their seat on the rock and reached for a vine dangling above them, tugged on it to make sure it was strong and secure enough for both of them, smiled, and said, "On these."

She smiled right back. She didn't even hesitate about using a vine, although going cross-country through the jungle on vines was hard to understand. She'd seen boys just swing back and forth on vines in the forests back in France, even though she was forbidden to ever to do that herself or with other girls by her parents, and the boys refused to let her secretly swing with them, despite her pleas to do so. Those boys were particularly mean to her that day about being a 'tom boy', and she ran in tears from that experience.

For Jeanne, Jack had turned the jungle, literally his 'back yard', into a fascinating place, and most importantly, and it didn't matter to him that 'she was just a girl'. The culture in France constantly denied her the ability to really play in the outdoors with someone who loved it as much as she did. As she told Jack, Jeanne had hated her time in the jungle because of the terrible circumstance of her being there. Suddenly things had changed.

She stood up right next to him and inspected the vine with great interest. She turned her hazel eyes from the vine to his, not more than a foot apart, and asked, "What do you do when there are no vines, Jack?"

Their arms touched as they gripped the vine. She was right there in front of him. Her rounded, olive-colored face was perfect and her eyes had delicate, long, black eyelashes and thick black eyebrows. He could barely breathe with their new closeness and had no idea why. When his family groomed each other, they were much closer than this and it didn't affect any of them a bit, but he managed to force out the words, "I ride on my friends."

This was even more exciting to Jeanne. As a toddler she rode a pony at a fair, and loved it. She always wanted to ride a real horse, and collected countless riding academy brochures, but as a military family, they were too poor to do that, and only her father could ride the military war horses.

She knew there were no horses in this part of Africa, sadly recalled all those brochures were incinerated with the destruction of their Moroccan home, fought back the tears, and she asked, "Oh? What kind of friends?"

He tried to describe them, as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening, all the while being drawn to her. For a moment their knees brushed together as they stood still holding the vine together. Something tingling moved through him and her simultaneously. She still didn't move away but listened intently.

He tried to keep his focus on his explanation, "Elephants are the best to ride on. You can see over everything. No one will get in your way riding them."

She snickered and could see him riding them in his eyes. Behind every story Jack shared was yet another, deeper story she wanted to know. Her eyes anxiously said to Jack: 'tell me more'.

So he did, "Hartebeest and Oryx are amazing. They are so fast and they can leap over anything, but you have to be careful of their huge horns. Elands are selfish. You have to feed them buckets of wild oats before they will even think about giving you a ride. When I was little I could ride gazelles, but I'm too heavy now. Wolves are OK to ride but their fur is really scratchy, especially riding them… ahh… well… you know…"

He was afraid he offended her, but she only giggled, and she immediately asked, "Is that all?"

"Lots more!" he said with pride, "You can ride the big cats if you earn their respect."

"Have you ever ridden a lion?" she asked.

"No. There aren't any lions in our part of Nigeria. Dad once said he saw a boy and girl lion playing in the deep jungle years ago. They were courting, and that was the last he saw of them or any other lion."

She was mildly disappointed. All the school books were filled with lion pictures in Africa.

"But I do ride on caracals and cheetahs, but cheetahs like pranks. They are the fastest, but they like throw you off at high speed into mud puddles and piles of hippo poop and they think it's funny. Have you ever seen a cheetah laugh? Not pretty…"

Jeanne completely lost it in laughter, and while regaining her breath at the thought of Jack in yet another compromising situation, she noted, "No Jack, I can't say that I have. But now I'm not so sure I want to! So who else have you ridden?"

He chuckled with her and continued, but Jack didn't miss the fact that she asked 'who' and not 'what'. This girl was starting to understand. Standing right next to her was feeling really nice now.

He continued, "Sometimes you can ride wild boars when you bribe them with the little cream-filled kind of grubs. Most everyone in the jungle is bigger and faster than me. For now at least. So I always give them treats, then they don't mind giving me rides. I'm not that heavy. When I'm tired my dad will give me a ride home on his back or shoulders, too. That's really fun! He's strong and quick."

"So, Jack. Tell me. All the jungle beasts are your friends?" She asked incredulously. She still hadn't grasped the full extent of his communion with nature, but she was trying to keep up.

He shrugged and responded, "Well… most of them are my friends. Hippos are pretty grumpy. Water buffalo hate being bothered by apes and people. Leopards and jaguars are dangerous. They have really bad tempers and they'd always rather fight than talk. We keep away from them. Dad had to kill one once. Crocs are only interested in eating. Anything. And snakes. Like my mom always says, 'never trust a snake'."

Jeanne laughed. Jack was very entertaining. Now she really wanted to meet his mother. The last time her mother saw a snake she screamed. All these brand new circumstances for her were perfectly normal to him and to his mom and dad, and he spoke of them like all this was an everyday occurrence for his family. But then she realized all these things were everyday occurrences for them.

But more importantly, she felt so relaxed as well as secure with Jack, even standing this close together. She always felt awkward and stupid around boys, and most of them never really wanted to be anywhere near her or any other girl ever. Jack was different. Jack clearly enjoyed being around her, and he was so animated and excited telling her stories. These new emotions about Jack were very hard to comprehend. Several times now, as they held the vine together, they'd each lightly touched each other's arms, and their knees had bumped again and it was pleasant to them.

Jeanne was very happy with the first-time-in-her-life-closeness to this boy, but didn't want to ruin the moment by mentioning it, so she just kept the conversation going by drawing their focus back to the vine, "Well… how do you swing on a vine, Jack? I've never done it."

"First timers let those who know do it for them. It's safer. Let me carry you the way Dad carries Mom and my little sister Lily. They enjoy that. Mom is good at swinging, but she likes it better when Dad carries her. She says it's like a big long hug."

He instantly blushed, smacked his forehead, and was embarrassed. This was exactly the stupid kind of comment he was trying to avoid, even though he betrayed what he really wanted to do, "Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that."

She saw his blush, smiled, put her hand on his hand, and said with a very sweet expression, "It's OK, Jack. That's just fine. I'd like that. It will be nice."

A long hug with Jack sounded perfectly fine to her.

Jack thought, "Wow!" but he only said aloud, "I hope so, Jeanne. I've never gotten to give a girl a ride on a vine before. But I do know how. I promise I won't drop you."

He remembered one young noblewoman flatly refused when he offered to swing on a vine together during a horse ride in the forest trails around the Castle last summer. That was the end of his first crush. It was a long silent ride back to the stable after that.

But this time was different. Jeanne giggled and clapped her hands together happily. He couldn't get enough of her laughter.

She was excited for their ride, but something else piqued her interest, "I know you won't. I trust you. But Jack… um… You have a petite soeur who is a jungle girl?"

"Yes. My sister Lily is four and pretty cute, but can be very annoying sometimes. She can talk to the other animals easier and better than I can. It's like she was born able to talk to animals. I'll have another brother or sister soon, too. My mom's going to have a baby again. Dad says about she's four months along. The yucky part is my mom and dad make all these gushy looks at each other and both of them touch the baby in her stomach a lot. Parents are so strange. But feeling the baby move is neat."

They laughed and then Jeanne added, "I don't have any sisters or brothers yet, but Mama is pregnant too. Nearly three months. My parents do that. I overheard them say to each other the baby was supposed to be a 'goodbye gift' to my mom from my dad when he was going to war. I don't get it. Parents are strange! But my mom having a baby is really exciting. She lets me touch her bump, and I can feel the baby move too. It's a miracle that's my sister or brother inside her. God is amazing."

Jack admitted proudly, "Yes He is. I got to see my sister being born. I wasn't grossed out. I got to hold her right away and give her to my mom. I wanted to and Dad let me. My dad is the best! Babies are fun most of the time except when they cry or smell or throw up. They're really cute when they nurse. Mom loved doing that with Lily when she was little. But then they grow up and get in your stuff. And you have to babysit them too. That's a lot of work but it mostly makes me feel good. She's my sister, so it's all right. She's family. Grandpa Porter helps too. It's easier when we go back to England. The servants take care of Lily then."

"Your parents are so nice to let you help with your sister's birth. I hope I can too," she said with great interest, but was amused with their sibling rivalry, and noted, "But thanks for the warnings, too, Jack."

She was fascinated that his grandfather was part of this jungle family also.

Jack knew they had to go, and he asked, "So, anyway. Are you ready, Jeanne?"

"I… I suppose I am," she said, just a little bit nervous.

But her desire to swing on the vines with him overcame any latent concern, so she let him pick her up, and he held her in his arms like she was a feather.

"Goodness! You're strong, Jack!" she exclaimed with very wide eyes, not expecting to be picked up so easily.

He almost threw her in the air. He misjudged her weight, and was a more than a little excited to hold this beautiful girl in his arms. "Calm down 'jungle boy'. Don't ruin this," he said to himself.

"Well not so much now, but I want to be just like Dad," he said humbly.

She enjoyed being held against his chest, and holding her close was a very comfortable feeling. While it seemed the trust was growing too fast between them, everything they did seemed very right. Despite what he said, Jeanne knew he was much stronger than he looked, and she was not a small girl. Only her father had ever carried her like this. She missed being carried to bed like this by her dad to be tucked into her bed with nighttime story, but the last time he carried her in his arms, they were fleeing for their lives. She could not remember the last time she slept in a real bed. She almost shuddered, but being in his arms comforted her unsettling flashback.

Jack readjusted her a little, placing her solidly in the crook of only one arm, and she helped him by putting her arms around his neck, which freed one arm for him to grab the vine. With a firm grip on Jeanne, he leaped on to it, and climbed it quickly with just his feet and the one arm only guiding them. It was amazing. His feet could do anything his arms and hands could do. His sense of balance was incredible, and he climbed astonishingly fast. At the top of their climb Jeanne looked down and gulped. They were at least 75 feet in the air, but she trusted him.

"Here we go!" he said.

"OK…" she barely squeaked in anticipation.

She gulped with Jack's push off into the open air, and she yelped with the sudden drop, but she felt the security of the arc of the swinging vine as it tensioned and stabilized. It was exhilarating.

She giggled excitedly as the rhythm of the vine-to-vine transfer accelerated, and they were zooming through the jungle very fast. She enjoyed the ride immensely and held her arms around him tighter with a huge smile. That look pleased him.

"Can I learn how to do this?" Jeanne asked fearlessly as they flew through the jungle at a breakneck pace.

"Sure. I can teach you," he offered.

Jack could not suppress a grin. Never before had he encountered a civilized girl who truly wanted to do this with him with no reservation or fear. It was second nature for Ndidi and the other Nigerian girls.

"That would be nice, Jack," she noted, and couldn't believe Jack instantly offered to help her learn. She blushed and he saw it.

"Why can't French boys be like him?" she thought, and then retracted it, "Why should I care about French boys when Jack is right here?"

They continued swinging through the trees. It was exhilarating for her to be so far above the ground and going so fast that she felt the wind rush through her hair. She quietly watched his concentration in getting them safely reunited with her parents. Several times they slowed and stopped swinging, alighted on the ground to reorient their bearings and reestablish the trail. The first time caught her off guard.

"Why are we stopping Jack? Have we found them?" she asked anxiously.

"Not yet. We need to check where they are," he informed her with great concentration, "Wait here next to me."

She stood quietly and watched him crawl on the ground with his nose against the jungle floor and carefully examined the plants to sniff for the soldiers' scent. He scrutinized bent grass or broken branches or scraped bark or other clues that she never even noticed, and witnessed him dig around on the ground until he found the soldiers and his parents' footprints. He really did have profound animal tracking skills.

Seeing a highly intelligent boy acting like a hunting dog was so bewildering, but she accepted it. She didn't know that in addition to Tarzan's expert training, Grandpa Porter's fox hounds, the wolf pack and bears that inhabited the forests surrounding Castle Greystoke that he and his father befriended, and Naima's family had spent weeks teaching him enhanced tracking skills. He'd fed every one of them some tender juicy meat he had hunted especially for them in appreciation. Jack's constant transitions from human to animal and back again were effortless. It didn't hurt that he was handsome, too.

Her appreciative smiles and intense attention to everything he did made Jack feel very good inside about his talents. Each time he showed her something, Jeanne wanted to see more. He'd tried to demonstrate a few skills with aristocratic girls who visited the Castle, but each time they turned their noses up in disgust at his animalistic behavior. So he just quit doing that. Until today.

They reached their next orientation point. The scents of the soldiers were strong and the trail was fresh. Even Jeanne noticed the signs. He strained to listen and peered into the distance. He began to pick up the man-made differences in the natural background noises of the jungle that Jeanne could not yet hear. He shared his mother's talents for that.

"We're close, Jeanne," Jack smiled.

Jeanne jumped up and down and clasped her hands in joy.

"C'mon let's go!" he urged.

He didn't have to ask her twice. She leaped into his arms for the final swing to her family with a huge smile at Jack.

….

Authors Note: Did Tarzan see Disney's Lion King characters Simba and Nala's courtship? Did Jack ever ride Pumba? I won't tell. I leave that to your imagination. :)