Page 39 of Maximum
CHAPTER11
Slow Motion
Fleur
We followed the lions at what felt like a snail’s pace in the Wrangler. They never walked more than twenty minutes before they stopped and lay down taking a break. It was clear they had no concept of human time and that the lioness’ being in heat prolonged our journey. The alpha kept breeding her and as if his ten seconds of sex exhausted him, this guy napped more than he walked.
“Why do guys always get tired after sex?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” Maximum had gotten more comfortable around the lions and even agreed to sit on the bonnet of the car to eat our lunch, which contained food that Mike had packed in a cooler for us. With a dip of his head in the direction of the lions, he asked, “Are you sure they’re not just wondering why we’re following them?”
“Believe me, if they wanted to lose us, they’d growl at us or run away.”
“I was thinking…” he dried his mouth. “What about your friends? I haven’t heard you talk about someone you were looking forward to seeing while we’re here.”
“That’s the curse of growing up the way I did. When I was a child, my parents always lived in remote and isolated areas where there were hardly any kids. I think that’s part of why animals are so important to me - they’re my friends. I mean, I played with the tribe kids and I don’t remember ever feeling lonely, but it wasn’t until we moved to South Africa that I made a few friends. I still keep in sporadic contact with some of them, and through my work, I’ve made friends all over the world, but none of them live close to the places we’re visiting this time.”
At six that night, we still hadn’t found any remains of poachers and as we rolled slowly after the group of lions they once again laid down.
“I think this is it,” I said. “We’re staying here for the night.”
“Great!” Maximum killed the engine, got out, and moved to the back of the car to grab a can of diesel to fill up the Wrangler. With the lions all sprawled on the ground sleeping, we raised the tent and took time to eat some more of the snacks and fruit that Mike had packed in the car for us.
“Are they going to sleep like that until tomorrow?” Maximum asked me.
“Pretty much. Lions sleep a lot, but some of them will hunt during the night or in the early morning.”
“Do they have to eat every day?”
“Mhmm, they need somewhere between four to seven kilos of meat a day for each member.”
“And you’re sure we’re not on the menu?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
The lions left us alone as we sat outside watching stars again and talking.
“Did you ever wish you couldn’t communicate with animals?”
“No. I mean, obviously, it gets tiresome with skeptics who make me sound like a fraud, but it’s my calling in life so I can’t turn my back on it.”
“The voices you hear, are they different from human voices?”
“It’s my own inner voice I hear, Max. Not some deep bear or squeaky mouse voice. With telepathy, I’m picking up on messages and shaping them in my mind to something I can make sense of. In my case, I hear words, but it’s different for every communicator.”
“Different how?”
I thought about it. “You know how some people are audible while others are kinesthetic, visual, or tactile, right?”
“Yes.”
“Well, depending on how your brain works, you’ll translate the messages differently. Like for instance when the elephants showed me that poachers were killed by the lions, I saw images of the remains of the poachers, and I got the words in my head to describe it. But if I were more tactile, I might get a feeling of touching dirt, and feeling my shoes. There’s no right and wrong here, but everyone has to work with the way their brain picks up the energy.”
“Do you have a favorite animal?”
“Obviously, I’m close to my friends at the farm. They’re family to me. But every animal I’ve met has taught me something, and in many ways the animals have been my mentors because they’re much better at staying in the now and being humble.”
“Humble? Huh! Try saying that to the alpha. He seems pretty full of himself to me.”
