Chapter 5:
The drawing of straws resumed again. In this round, Ma won.
"Oh, boy! A memory from Mrs. Ma!" Pumbaa cheered.
"I'm not sure which memory to share. I've told most of the good memories already," Ma said, tapping the straw on her chin.
"There must be something you haven't told us!" Pumbaa whined a bit. He suddenly perked up. "Ooo, how about Timon's competition for mating rights? I never did get to hear that one."
"Oh, no! Not the competition! I don't want Zuri to hear what a loser I was!" Timon said as he pulled on his ears.
"You're still a loser to me," Uncle Max said.
Timon released his ears and put a paw to his heart, acting dramatic. "Such a hurtful thing, and from my own uncle!"
"Anything I hear about your past won't change how I feel about you now, Timon. And I really want to know what you were like as a young adult," Zuri said, pulling Timon back down next to her.
Timon blew some air out of his mouth. "Oh, all right... but I have the right to get up and walk away if I get in a mood from hearing this memory." He put an arm around Zuri's shoulder as he waited for his mother to begin telling the memory.
"Fine. And I have a right to follow you afterwards," Zuri giggled as she nuzzled up next to Timon.
Timon half-smirked. "Fair enough."
Ma cleared her throat. "I'll start the morning before the competition. We were digging tunnels, as usual..."
"And Timon was late getting to work, as usual," Uncle Max butted in.
5 years ago...
A group of meerkats was busily adding onto the tunnel system as Timon, a year old, wondered in. They were all busy singing their digging song to notice Timon walking in.
"About time, Timon!" Pete said to Timon as he walked by.
"Heh, sorry, Pete. Guess I overslept," Timon meekly said.
"Again," Pete said under his breath with a roll of his eyes. "Just try not to break anything today, OK, pup?"
Timon stopped and looked back at Pete with a furrowed brow. "Pete, I'm a year old now. That's not considered to be a pup anymore."
"Eh, I know, but it's hard to think of you as an adult."
"Yeah? Well, after tonight, you'll all be thinking of me as an adult," Timon said, puffing his chest out a bit.
"Ah, that's right. It's the first-year competition for mating rights. You're not going to try out, are you?"
"Why shouldn't I?"
"Well, Timon, let's face it. You're not exactly the spitting image of your father."
"Sure I am. Ma says I grow to look more like him everyday."
"Well, I meant in the muscles department." Pete took hold of one of Timon's arms and felt his muscles. "You wouldn't last two minutes in a fight."
Timon yanked his arm away from Pete. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Would you let me get to work already? I'd like to warm-up a little bit with digging before the competition."
Pete watched Timon walk away and then shook his head. "Maybe now that he's an adult, his tunnel digging skills will improve?"
The meerkatswent to the next verse, which sang about Fearless Buzz, Timon's father. Suddenly the wall next to them crumbled and crumbled down on the digging meerkats. The meerkats popped out of the dirt one by one, grumbling and dusting the dirt out of their fur.
"Let me take a wild guess..." Pete said softly through clenched teeth.
"TI-MON!" the group of meerkats screamed.
Timon finally emerged from the dirt, receiving glares from each of the meerkats. He nervously chuckled as he started to dust the dirt out of his fur. "I, uh... I guess I wasn't suppose to remove this stone, huh?" He held up a stone to the group.
"Idiot! That's the keystone!" a meerkat growled.
"Keystone?" Timon looked it over a bit, blinking. "Doesn't look like a key to me."
"Timon..." Pete softly growled as he pulled himself up from the dirt and approached Timon. He looked like he wanted to say something, and that including talking with his balled-up paws, but instead he sighed and helped Timon up out of the dirt. "Just go get ready for the competition outside, OK?"
Timon sighed and nodded. "All right, Pete." He tossed the keystone aside as he walked past the other meerkats, who mumbled under their breath and went to work on repairing the tunnel.
"It never fails. Every time he's on the digging crew and we sing the Fearless Buzz verse, he breaks something!" a meerkat groaned.
"Maybe we should consider taking it out," Pete said, rubbing his forehead. "I mean, after all, how would you feel if you had to be reminded that your father was killed by hyenas?"
"Yeah... We'll run it by Max and Panya later," another meerkat said.
Timon was still dusting himself off when he came outside. He knocked some dirt out of his ears, and then he noticed some of the first-year female meerkats collecting flowers. He grinned and snatched a bug from the air. He squished it between his paws to make hair gel and rubbed it over his hair, plastering it down. He dusted his arms off as he walked over towards them. "Time to try and score points, Timmy boy."
"Uh-oh. Don't look now, ladies. Tunnel klutz at 10 o'clock," a female mumbled to the rest. The other females rolled their eyes and sighed, then smiled pleasantly as Timon approached them.
"Good morning, ladies," Timon said, trying to be a suave as he can be. "You're looking well-groomed today."
"Oh, Timon, did you break the tunnel again?" a female asked, flicking some dirt off Timon's shoulder.
Timon smiled and leaned over to her. "You're very observant, Winda, and I like that in a woman. What would you say if I picked you for my wife after the competition tonight?"
"Nothing. I can't talk and gag at the same time," Winda said as she picked up her flowers and walked away. A few females giggled as a cowlick suddenly sprung up from Timon's plastered-down hair.
"Heh-heh... yeah, good one," Timon said, smoothing his hair down again. He then turned to another. "Penda, how about you? Would you want to spend the rest of your life with yours truly?"
"Sorry, Timon, but I can't marry you for medical reasons," Penda said as she started to walk away.
"Medical reasons?"
"You make me sick!" The females laughed as Penda walked away.
"Ooo... strike two," Timon winced softly. He turned to the rest of the females, furrowing his brow. "OK, lemme just ask you girls a simple question."
"Shoot," a female said.
"What do the rest of the males in this colony have that I don't have?"
"You want it alphabetically?"
"Uh... no, not really."
"Face it, Timon. You think you're hot stuff, but your sizzle has fizzled," a second said as she walked away with her flowers.
"Aww, I just need a day out in the sun! It can't be more than a bazillion degrees today!" Timon protested as the other females started to walk away from him.
"That line's so lame it needs crutches!" a female said. The other females laughed as they dropped into the tunnels.
"Oh, yeah? Well, to marry a girl like any of you, a guy would have to be double D--desperate and deranged!" Timon shouted after the girls. Timon then sighed and lowered his eyes. "So would the girl to wanna marry me."
"I don't think so, Timon," Timon heard a voice say. He turned to see his mother walk over to him. "I think you're just trying too hard to get a girl's attention."
"Well, what am I suppose to do, Ma? They can't look past the fact that I'm a tunnel klutz and get to know the real me." Ma looked at him for a moment, and then chuckled. "What?"
"I was just thinking of when you were younger... when you didn't like girls."
"Oh, Ma, come on... it's a natural thing for young boys and girls not to like each other."
"I asked you to play with them and you'd say they have cooties."
Timon half-chuckled. "Yeah... Now I want to 'play' with them, and they're avoiding me like a hyena." He looked to his mother with a concerned expression. "What if I don't make it up the ladder far enough to father pups?"
"What will happen will happen. So long as you try your best, I'll be proud of you."
Timon put his paws on his hair to comb it back normally. "But I won't be proud of myself. I feel like I'd be letting Dad down. He made it to the top three without a hitch." He looked away from his mother. "How am I suppose to make it to the top three when I've yet to win a single play fight?"
"Your father made it to the top three because no one could ever beat him. I could never beat him in a play fight, neither could the other two of the top three." She softly sighed and turned Timon's face to meet hers. "If you don't make it to the top three, it won't be the end of the world. So you won't be giving me any grandchildren. So what?"
"What's the point of having a wife if you can't--? Oh, wait... a girl's gotta like me before I can marry her."
Ma softly sighed again and put a paw on Timon's cheek. "You've grown into such a handsome boy. I can't imagine a girl not wanting to marry you. Maybe if you stopped trying to be someone you're not, you might get more girls than you think."
"You really think so?"
"Well, that's how your father picked me. I wasn't trying to grab his attention by being someone I wasn't. He loved me for who I was."
Timon nodded, "Maybe you're right." He straightened himself up and started to walk away.
"Hey, where are you going?"
"I'm gonna get ready for tonight. Get ready for a daughter-in-law, Ma! I'm gonna win!"
Present...
"Please, Ma, don't go into detail about the competition!" Timon said as he walked over to his mother on his knees. He clasped his paws over hers. "If you love me at all, please don't tell them how poorly I did!"
"Why, was it that bad?" Pumbaa asked.
Timon glared over at Pumbaa. "Did I have a wife when I left the colony?"
"Uh... no."
"Then it was that bad." Timon got up and walked away.
"Going to sulk?" Zuri asked.
"I have the right, don't I?" Timon mumbled as he disappeared.
Zuri watched after him, and then she handed her two pups to Ma. "Here, watch Kito and Shani for a while, Mom. I told him earlier I had the right to follow him if he left." She then walked after Timon.
"Well, Panya, if you're not going to tell the warthog about Timon losing, then I will," Uncle Max said as he stepped up.
"Max, Pumbaa isn't that interested in knowing. Timon lost, that's all," Ma said as she set the two pups beside her.
"But how did he take losing?" Pumbaa asked.
"Well... since Timon isn't here, I guess I could tell you. He didn't take it too well, though he put up a brave front in front of the colony."
5 years ago...
A few meerkats cheered for the winning meerkat who had just pinned another to the ground for 10 seconds. The winner offered a paw to the loser, but instead Timon got up on his own, dusting his fur off.
"Sorry I had to beat you, Timon," the winner said.
Timon held a paw up. "Heh. Oh, no, don't worry about it. I'm just sorry I didn't put up more of a challenge for you."
"All right, those with the blue pebbles, you're next!" Uncle Max announced as the winner and Timon stepped out of the center of the tunnel.
Timon walked past his mother, who went over to him. "Timon, did he hurt you?"
"Nah, just my pride."
"Aww, sweetie..."
Timon smiled. "Oh, don't worry about it, Ma. Someone had to lose, right? But you know, I think I'll pass on the wife thing for a while. I like being a bachelor. I don't need any women to tie me down, no siree!" He turned to the other males. "I'm leaving the women all to you, guys! Enjoy!"
A few males cheered as Timon walked out of the central meeting tunnel. Then they were silenced as the next contestants went into the center of the tunnel to fight. As he rounded the corner, Timon leaned against the wall and let his fake smile fade. He sighed and continued to walk down the tunnel. He eventually walked outside and over to his father's grave. He knelt to it and sighed.
"Well, Dad, I messed up again. I don't mean to let you down all the time. I guess maybe I'm trying too hard, like Ma says. I'm just sorry I couldn't make it as far as you did in the competition. I mean, to get to the top three means you're suppose to father strong pups." Timon sighed and lowered his eyes. "And you ended up with a runt like me."
Ma was watching him from a distance. She didn't go over though. She thought she'd leave Timon alone, because that's what he wanted... to be alone with his father.
Present...
"Aww, poor Timon," Pumbaa said.
"Yeah. He believed he was letting Buzz down. I always told him if he tried his best he'd be proud of him. But I guess that wasn't enough," Ma said, shaking her head.
"Well, that memory's done and gone. Time for the next round!" Uncle Max said as he held out the five straws.
"We're not going to share anymore memories until Timon and Zuri come back," Ma said, pushing the paw with the straws away.
"But the memories are suppose to help me with my nerves about Jina's condition and becoming a father. What am I suppose to do until they get back?" Pumbaa whined.
"You could go back to pacing."
"OK." Pumbaa got up and started pacing.
To be continued...