CHAPTER 10. NO WORRIES
Simba woke in a fright. What a horrible dream. He thought and he tried to force his eyes open. Instead of feeling the warmth and softness of his bed he felt cold and uncomfortable, he was in lying across the back seat of a car; completely wet. All he could hear was the hum of the engine and the car's radio. "Another update on the death of King Mufasa and Prince Simba; New leader and brother of the King, 'Scar' has rejected the proposal to build a monument to the king and his son. This had caused a civil outcry that was quickly silenced by Scar's new private army. The new 'dictator' has become unpopular with many across the country, some claim that his new government party was partially responsible for the City bombing and possibly the death of the king. He swiftly denied these claims and said to a press conference that there was no relation between the two events. One thing is clear, the country is having it's most eventful week in history, with a major terrorist attack, death of two members of the Royal family, and a socialist revolution." The radio announcer reported.
Simba felt his eyes start to burn with tears again. So it wasn't a dream. He groaned and tried to sit up. He was alive but under the circumstances he'd rather be dead, like everyone thought. If I'm alive, then where the hell am I? How'd I get out of the drain? His brain started overloading with questions, and he sat up straight in the car, still drenched. "Hey, sleeping beauty's awake!" a man in the front seat said. "You nearly died!" another added. "I saved you." The first man said. The man in the passenger seat growled at him. "Well Pumbaa helped... a little." The first man confessed as he came to a red light. They both turned around to look at him, the man driving was skinny, and had short brown hair. The second was a little overweight, and had longer black hair and a mustache. "I'm Timon, this is my buddy Pumbaa, we heard you in the drain and saved you. We're taking you to a hospital now." The driver said. No, they'll know who I am, then they'll ask me what happened! Simba thought frantically. "Thanks for your help guys, but don't take me to the hospital, I'm fine." Simba said, but then he started to choke, within seconds he vomited a mixture of rainwater and breakfast all over the car's floor. Timon flinched; he had just cleaned the inside of the car only a day earlier. "Listen kid we're taking you there for your own good, a few hours ago we thought you died." Timon said as the light turned green. "No! Please don't. Just take me where you're going." Simba pleaded.
"We're going home, and that's out of this country." Timon said firmly. "Well take me with you! I promise I won't be a pain, and I'll leave you alone when we get there." Simba begged. Pumbaa nudged Timon. "Fine, so anyway where are you from?" Timon did a U-turn as he spoke. "Who cares, I can't go back." Simba said miserably. "Oh you're an outcast, that's great so are we!" Timon said enthusiastically. "Nah, I'm kiddin' ya, we were just here to visit family." Timon said with a grin. Pumbaa frowned at him and shook his head, he knew the mood Simba was in. "What'd you do kid?" Pumbaa asked curious. "Something terrible, but I don't wanna talk about it." Simba mumbled. "Good we don't want to hear about it." Timon remarked, this comment was met with a solid elbow in the arm from Pumbaa. He tried to reassure him. "It's in times like these Timon says, you have to put your behind in your past...oh wait that's not it...oh dear." Timon looked at him awkwardly. "No, no, no. It's you gotta put your past behind ya." Timon corrected him. "Bad things happen, and there's nothing you can do about it right?" Timon started. "Right." Simba said. "Wrong!" Timon raised his voice as he began to speak. "When the world turns its back on you, you turn your back on the world." Timon told him as he drove. "Well that's not what I was taught." Simba informed him. "Well then maybe you need a new lesson, repeat after me: Hakuna Matata." "Huh?" Simba raised an eyebrow. "Hakuna Matata, it's an old African way of life. It's Swahili for 'no worries.'" Pumbaa said.
"Oh, listen to this song, it is a great of example of Hakuna Matata." Timon put a CD into the car and Three Little Birds by Bob Marley started playing, Timon and Pumbaa sang along as they drove. "Don't worry...about a thing...cause every little thing is gonna be alright." Simba started to cheer up and tapped his foot in time with the beat. "C'mon kid sing along, it's a long drive to our place." Timon said over the blaring music, Simba smiled and joined in. "Don't worry...about a thing...'cause every little thing, is gonna be alright." Timon cheered and said: "Yeah, SING IT KID!" The three sang away as they drove towards the border.
When they reached the border checkpoint, Timon and Pumbaa went about it normally, they reached for their passports and wallets, Simba however jumped down and hid under the seat. "What're you doing kid? C'mon be serious." Timon gestured for him to get up but Simba shook his head. Timon slid a finger across his neck, indicating how much trouble they would be in if they tried to smuggle him across the border, especially with the new socialist law in place. Simba sat up straight and turned his head away from the security camera, so they wouldn't see his face. The border cop looked over Timon and Pumbaa's passports and gave them the tick of approval; He then turned towards Simba and asked for his. "Sorry I don't have mine with me." Simba said sheepishly. The officer thought long and hard. He's just a kid, I'll give him a break. "Okay, just let me get your name." The officer said. Yes! Simba thought, he was going to make it through. "Gareth Wallcroft." he lied. The officer scribbled it down on a piece of paper before letting them through.
"So your name's Gareth huh, I think I'll call you Gaz." Timon said. "My name's actually Simba, but you can call me that if you like, it sounds like a cool name." Simba said to Timon. "Simba... like that royal kid who died earlier...poor kid, only twelve years old, heard about him on the radio." Timon shook his head sadly. Simba bit his lip and said no more for the next few minutes. They drove for hours, and into the night. Simba eventually fell asleep on the long drive.
He slept without dreams, much to his delight; he couldn't stand another nightmare about his father or someone finding out the truth. He was shaken awake by Timon, he then forced his eyes open and jumped out of Timon's SUV. "We're here kid, rise and shine." Timon said. It was morning now, and the sun illuminated the huge mansion near a cliff. Simba felt his jaw drop. Wow, that is absolutely beautiful. Simba thought to himself.