Dalila
"Come on Kopa, quit it!" I said, sounding annoyed.
"But mooooom, you cleaned that spot three times already!" Kopa whined.
"I'm just making sure I didn't miss any thing. You can't walk around half dirty."
I continue licking the top of Kopa's head. Kopa growl a little and escape out of my arms.
"Okay, okay, I'm clean. Can I go play now?" He asks.
I chuckle and nod. "Yes, go on."
"Yaay!!"
I watch Kopa run off.
"Each day Dalila, Kopa grows more handsome." Said Tambo's mother.
Tambo's mother is now old. She is still able to walk, but can no longer hunt or reproduce more cubs. She spends the day either sleeping or watching the young cubs play. Her teenage son Tambo does all the hunting for her or sometimes I would volunteer. Tambo's mother is a close friend of mines and also a mother figure. She has taught me EVERYTHING about parenting.
She walks up to me. I watch her lay down. The sun shines brightly down on her fur making her look absolutely stunning.
"Yeah. He's starting to resemble Simba a lot..." I say.
"I notice that too. Someday your going to have to tell him Dalila." She said.
"Tell him what?"
"The truth."
The truth?
I thought about it for a moment.
I can't tell Kopa...
He'll start asking a bunch of questions and try to locate his father...
Simba deserves not to know...
"I-I can't..." I said, staring down at my front paws.
Tambo's mother raise a brow. "And why not, dear? You don't want to ever regret on what I did with Tambo."
"What do you mean?"
"I told Tambo the first day when he became an teenager. I thought he was old and mature enough. Worst mistake...I should have told him when he's an adult. That's what my mother suggested. I didn't listen to her obviously. I thought it was too long. He would of understand more and better if I did. Tambo was hot that I waited so long to tell him. But he slowly got over it. He realize his father is not what's important. I am what's important, being the only parent in his life. Tambo now knows that..."
I continue looking down. "Wow. I see..."
Tambo's mother place a paw on top of my own. "All I'm saying to you Dalila is that it's your choice to wait or not tell your son at all. Just don't make the same mistake I did. Regretting something is a bad deep feeling inside. Something you can no longer escape. Once it's there, it's there and you have to deal with it forever. Even though Tambo tells me constantly that it is not my fault, I still say it is. I just want my son to be happy while I'm here, Dalila."
"I know."
"My days will soon be short. I can just feel it coming now."
She look up at the sun as the winds blow along our fur.
I lean over and hug her. "But I don't want you to. You've taught me so much since I was a cub. My grandfather trust me in your paws teaching me about life. You are like a mother to me. Without you, who knows how my life would have turned out. Yeah I would have just had my grandfather, but he doesn't know much about daughters. He wasn't around when my own my mother was growing up. Grandfather was just a rouge at that time."
She hugged back nodding. "I know dear. I've known your grandfather a long time. I was the first to join his pride in the jungle..."
"Really?"
"Yes. That is why he trust me to raise you. We had a close friendship. It still continues to hurt me that he's gone. But I know you'll become a great strong leader of this pride Dailia just like he was. We all have faith in you and your son Kopa who's now the next leader!"
I smile. "Thanks."
Tambo's mother return the smile.