I had killed the lioness. Though I usually do my shooting with a movie camera, I’m also pretty good with a rifle. Africa is a long way from the ranch in Wyoming that I grew up on but I’ve found that a lot of my childhood skills come in handy now that I’m making wildlife documentaries. We brought the carcass of the lioness into the village to show them that “she who steals babies” was dead. The big celebration came as no surprise, the sick cat had been feeding off their infants for the past year. She was old and they were easy and tender prey. They had every right to be happy and, after three months on the savanna, we were eager to party. The celebration was just fine and I wasn’t even too surprised that they wanted to honor us, even though I kept trying to explain through my interpreter, Amadi, that at least half of it had been dumb luck. If it made them feel good to give us a few small gifts, as long as they weren’t leaving themselves busted, I guess I couldn’t see any harm. The thing about the chief’s daughter, though, had me a bit uncomfortable.

When Amadi told me that the chief was giving me one of his daughters for the night I really had tried to politely decline. But, as far as I could understand, it seemed to be some sort of tribal honor thing. Amadi said I would be insulting the entire tribe if I refused to sleep with the girl. So, that’s how I ended up in this grass hut with pretty cloths spread out and a bunch of candles burning with some sort of perfume smell. I was still figuring I might be able to get through the night without actually touching the girl but the moment she walked through the door I began to suspect I might be wrong on that figuring. Like all members of this tribe, she had dark brown skin. In the candlelight, her large eyes and white teeth sparkled like the gold necklace she was wearing. The rest of her smooth, black body was buck-naked. Her firm young breasts stood straight out from her slender frame with a slight upwards tilt. Only a bit of puffiness showed where her nipples were, they were just about the same dark brown as the rest of her gorgeous skin. Her little round belly looked firm, her legs straight and strong, and her butt was nicely curved. I watched the muscles ripple as she walked. I was hypnotized Read more