Chapter 2
"A New Addition"
Ever since that they found out she was pregnant, both Tarzan and Jane felt that the birth of their first child was a blessing that had come down from heaven following the death of Archimedes. They delivered the baby in the Wazari village since there was no other medical profession in the jungles. However, there was a difference that they both had to get used to which was that there was no time for private moments. Every night, one of them would have to get up to tend to the child who would always cry for certain needs.
"I'm sorry, Tarzan," said Jane, one morning as she feed their newborn child. "This is something that you are going to have to get used to. He'll stop doing this in time."
Tarzan, who was not used to being woken up each night, sighed heavily while slightly reconsidering his decision to even have a child.
"I always thought that having a child was to be fun," sighed Tarzan. "Didn't you say that, Jane?"
Jane grabbed a bottle to feed the baby as she tried to answer Tarzan's question. Being woken up in the middle of each night was not easy for her too, but it was something that she was going to have to get used to along with Tarzan. Fortunately, she had seen how her younger cousins had grown up from the time when they were babies.
"I always did, Tarzan," replied Jane, sitting down in a chair. "But that was all back when I was England. Raising a child in the jungles of Africa is going to be a challenge, I will say."
A heavy sigh came from Jane as the baby finished its bottle. At that moment, Timon and Pumbaa came onto the scene with some bugs that they had brought from their part of the jungle.
"Hey, there," remarked Timon. "We brought some bugs for the kid."
"Oh, goodness!" cried Jane, shocked at what the two friends brought them. "Get those vile creatures out of here! You are not feeding Korak these…ugh…bugs!"
Feeling that the bugs were not going to be eaten, Pumbaa snatched the bugs from his friend's arms and gobbled them down with one fell swoop. This caused Timon to fold his arms in disgust at seeing his breakfast go down the drain of his friends digestive system.
"Oh, well, more for me," laughed Pumbaa as he belched out his breakfast, much to Jane's displeasure.
Suddenly, Korak began crying again and Jane tried to calm it down by placing the child to her shoulder while she patted it on the back. After a few moments, a loud burping noise came from the child as Timon looked on with disgust.
"Oi, he burps as loud as you, Pumbaa," he remarked. At that point, Jane took Korak into their room and placed him down into a crib that Dumont had provided for them after he was born.
Once the child was asleep, Jane walked out of the room and told Tarzan, Timon and Pumbaa that she was going down to the trading post for a while and that they were in charge of the baby until she returned.
But before Jane walked down to the trading post, she stopped at the graves of her father and Kerchak, Tarzan's adoptive father. Although it had been several years since that fateful night in the North Atlantic, Jane could still have flashbacks of that moment where Archimedes fell to his death as the Titanic sank to the bottom of the sea. A small tear came into Jane's eye as she stared down at the headstone of her father's grave.
"Is everything all right, Jane?" asked Tarzan, swooping down from the treehouse. "I left Timon and Pumbaa in charge of Korak for a moment to check on you."
Jane wanted to tell Tarzan sternly that leaving their child in the care of a meerkat and a warthog was out of the question; however she was too emotional to even think about reprimanding him.
"I'm fine, Tarzan," cried Jane, trying to hold back her tears. "It's just that I wish daddy was here to see his grandchild."
"I miss him too, Jane," replied Tarzan, placing an arm around his wife's neck. "But, didn't you teach me that people like us never really die?"
Jane knew she was right, being raised a catholic all her life and learning that when people die, their bodies turn to dust while their spirits live forever in the vast regions of heaven.
"I did, Tarzan," said Jane, kneeling down at the grave. "But, I wish that I could see him again. I could give my life to do it."
"He wouldn't want you to say that, Jane," remarked Tarzan, getting down to his wife's level. "It's important that we continue living the way he would want us to live and that is by continuing his legacy."
Jane knew that Tarzan was learning fast about becoming a catholic and rose back to her feet. However, the thoughts from being born to meeting Tarzan and all the way to this moment were racing across her mind at a fast speed.
"I know what you mean, Tarzan," said Jane, her eyes still locked on the headstone. "But, one day I will remember everything that happened here: the good, the bad, those that survived and those that did not."
Jane closed her eyes and rose back to her feet as she continued her way down to the Trading Post. At that moment, Tarzan heard his son's cries and returned to the tree house to help Timon and Pumbaa.
Meanwhile, the news of the first declaring of wars as a result of the events in Sarajevo continued to grow and soon, the radios at the Trading Post were nearly blown due to the flow of activity.
"It's incredible, Father," cried Antoine as he sat at the radio while his father looked out the window towards the open ocean. "The world is declaring war on itself."
"Let's just hope that we don't see the Germans on the other side of this jungle join this fight," sighed Dumont, although he knew that it was inevitable that the Great War was coming to the jungle…