How much I'm gonna work on this depends on Dad's recovery... he's doing better. Today he's been harassing people on the cell phone. The last few days he's been lying in the living room (where the computer is) watching action/adventure movies that my brother brought over, which I'm not a terribly big fan of. Hard to work when there's swearing and explosions in the background. Anyway, this chapter is a reminder that there are other characters in this story besides the ones currently in the Outlands. :gasp: Yeah, I know. Sarcasm. Lets you know how the group in the oasis are doing at the time. Read on. PS, in the flashback I'm gonna call Ma Panya. UPDATE: Removed You'll Be In My Heart lyrics.
Chapter 25:
Shomari paced back and forth in front of two meerkats. He had his paws behind his back and he shook his head. His mate Dalila stopped watching him about ten minutes ago, when she started to get dizzy. Ma was sitting nearby, staring at her feet.
"They haven't been gone long enough to come back at this time, so you may as well stop pacing, Shomari," Dalila said as she took a moment to look at her mate.
Shomari sighed and stopped pacing. "I know, but the wait is killing me. I never should've allowed Zuri and Sudi to go find them. I should've gone myself."
"What good would it do if you went after them? If everyone saw you leave then the whole colony would be off to the Pride Lands to find four meerkats and three warthogs."
Shomari glanced over at Ma, and then he walked over to Dalila and softly said, "Five meerkats. Kito and Bango overheard about Titus. There's a slim chance they may actually find him."
"But is he still alive?" Dalila softly asked.On that note as if she could hear them, Ma stood and walked away.
Ma walked slowly through the oasis until she finally reached her nest. She shifted through the straw and leaves until she pulled out some worn leaves tied together with an old piece of vine. She undid the vine and unwrapped the leaves to reveal a small doll made of straw, twigs, and stone tied together. Its face was painted and beared the appearance of a meerkat pup. She sighed deeply, almost shuddering as she held it against her chest and began to remember the last time she held a doll identical to this one.
6 years ago...
The sun had begun to set. A group of male meerkats walked towards their tunnels with their heads hung low. One's head hung lower than the others'. The rest of the group pat that meerkat on the back as they walked past him and dropped into the tunnel entrance. The sentry dropped down from the nearby rock and walked over towards the last meerkat.
Buzz heard the sentry walking towards him, so he lifted his head up and ran over to him. "Well?"
The sentry, Pete, sadly shook his head. "No luck. We didn't find him either." Buzz sighed and put a paw over his eyes. Pete put a paw on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Buzz. But that's nature's design."
Buzz shook his head and took Pete's paw off his shoulder. "No, that was my decision to leave Timon and Titus unsupervised. That Martial eagle that swooped down on us probably grabbed him." Buzz sighed again and ran a paw through his hair. "I didn't want him to lose his life three weeks after he started it."
"Come on, Buzz. We didn't find him today, but that doesn't mean he isn't still alive. We don't know for sure that the eagle got him."
"I'm not going to let my hopes up. We were born meerkats, born to be food for other animals. I was just hoping I would go before my own son." With that, Buzz dropped down into the tunnel.
Panya sat in her nest, setting three-week-old Timon down with a doll and covered him with a leaf. She held a second doll in her paws and looked down at it. She heard some footsteps approaching and she looked up. Her heart sank when Buzz approached her with a look of defeat and empty paws. He didn't say anything... he didn't have to. She knew he didn't find their son. She looked away from him and down at the doll in her paws as she softly began to cry. Buzz sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms, trying to comfort her.
A louder cry was heard from within the nest. Both parents turned to see Timon had kicked the leaf off and had started crying. Buzz leaned over and picked him up. "I guess he thought since you were crying..." Buzz half shrugged. He held Timon for a moment until the pup became quiet. "What are we going to tell him when he grows up?"
"Wait for him to ask," Panya softly said with a sniffle.
"What?"
Panya wiped her eyes. "I lost a son today and I don't want to relive it by telling it to him. But if he remembers being with Titus, we'll tell him."
"Panya, he's just a pup. He doesn't know something bad happened."
"That'll make one of us happy then. Look at him, Buzz." They both looked at Timon, who had fallen asleep in Buzz's arms. "So unaware, so innocent. I don't want to see him anything other than that. I just want him to be happy." She looked at the doll in her paws and let out a shuddering sigh. "If he doesn't remember having a brother, then he's none the wiser."
"He'll be wiser when he gets older. He'll be aware of other emotions, so he won't always be happy."
Panya took Timon from Buzz and handed him the doll she was holding. "Maybe not, but he won't be sad about Titus if he doesn't know about him. Start by keeping this away from him."
Buzz looked at the doll he was given. "This isn't the answer."
Panya looked away from him as her voice started to tremble. "I don't want to see it anymore... please, find a place for it, where I'll never find it." Buzz lowered his eyes as he rose from the nest with the doll and walked away. Timon began to cry again as Panya held him close to her. She looked down at her son and smiled weakly. "Don't cry, Timmy. I'm here... I'm here..."
Buzz climbed out of the tunnel and walked over to the tall grass, the last place where both of his sons were together. He knelt down to the ground, where he saw small meerkat pup prints in the dirt. He put the doll aside as he dug a small hole where the prints were. He put the doll inside the hole and then covered the hole with dirt. He pat the top and sighed as a tear ran down his cheek. "Good-bye, Titus. We'll keep you in our hearts until we meet again."
Buzz turned away from the small dirt pile and walked back towards the tunnel.
Present...
Ma softly cried as she held the small doll against her chest. She sniffled and slightly jumped when she felt a paw on her shoulder.
"I, uh, didn't know you still played with dolls," Shomari grinned slightly.
"This was Timon's favorite doll when he was a pup. He called it Binkie," Ma said softly.
Shomari nodded, "Ahh, so this is the infamous Binkie. Cute."
"Buzz made it... he made one for Titus, too." She clutched the doll tighter. "The day Titus die--ahem, disappeared, I had Buzz take his doll and put it somewhere where I'd never find it. To this day I don't know where he put it."
"Why did you do that?"
"It hurt too much to look at it," Ma whispered. "And now..."
Shomari shook his head and sat down next to her. "Who knows? Our grandson may actually pull through and deliver. With your son's history of unbelievable events, he may take after his father enough to actually find your long lost son." Shomari nodded up towards the sky. "Their guardian angel will point the way."
Ma sighed and shifted closer to Shomari. She looked up at the sky through the leaves in the trees. "I hope you're right. I hope you are keeping watch on all of them, Buzz." She closed her eyes as she felt the wind brush against them.
"See? He knows."
Ma smiled slightly. "He almost always did know."
To be continued...