Sports is the toy department of human life.

- Howard Cosell

As agreed upon last week, we returned today to Mowgli's „zoo“ and this time the owner of the big estate was already waiting for us on the beach, accompanied by one of his ligers.

„You should really try to call, before you visit someone“, Mowgli said to Mr Tuniak.

„I would, if I knew myself in advance where I was going to end up“, Mr Tuniak replied. „And as I remember it, you were a lot more spontaneous yourself.“

„You can't use that excuse, if you own a time machine, you know“, Mowgli said. „And back then I didn't own this park. Or have a family.“

His remark reminded me of a question I had had since last week, but which I had forgotten to ask then. Taking this opportunity, I said: “What is this 'park' exactly? I noticed no one here calls it a zoo or anything similar.”

“It's my private garden”, Mowgli told me without hesitation. “And from time to time I invite people here to show them around. By pure chance, these people usually donate some money afterwards, so I can afford to buy food for all the animals, pay for maintenance and so on.”

“But why don't you officially call it a zoo?”

“Because then there would be countless rules and safety standards I'd have to adhere to”, Mowgli explained. “I probably wouldn't be allowed to let the animals roam free.” He caressed the liger, who was walking right by his side, as he said this. “I have several... private agreements with the government here. I am not allowed to make too much of a profit and have to take on animals from time to time who can't find a place anywhere else”- he pointed to a zorse (the offspring of a male zebra and a female horse) which was feeding on the border of the forest - “and in return, they don't come here and do safety checks and similar stuff. Of course... this only works as long as no accidents are happening here, which so far, they haven't. I shudder to thin what would happen, if someone gets hurt while visiting here.” He shook his head as if even thinking about such a misfortune could cause it to occur. “But you are not here to talk about the future, you are here because of the past, isn't that right?”

We entered the main building and went to the enormous library. We sat down in big chair, so that we were looking out a tall window. We saw a part of the park surrounding the villa and the animals going about their business there.

“So, what do you want to hear from me?”, Mowgli wanted to know from me.

“Last week, I told him about my first visit here”, Mr Tuniak informed him.

Mowgli leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes and smiled. “Oh yes, those were the times”, he said and looked at me. “I was in my thirties back then, closer to forty than thirty actually, and Lex was a bit older than me. We both had our midlife-crisis then.” He laughed out loud. “No, we didn't, but you would think so, judging by all the stupid stuff we did.”

Alexander fell down backwards and landed in high grass. Mowgli sat carefully down right next to him. They both felt every fibre of their body and all of them seemed to hurt.

“Why did I let you talk me into this?”, Alexander wondered.

“Because it was fun, wasn't it?”, Mowgli asked. “But I won't be able to sit down properly for the next week, I'm afraid.”

“How did you find these people anyway?”, Alexander wanted to know. He sat up and looked over to the men who were now giving the ostriches their food.

When Alexander had come to a visit to his park, Mowgli had immediately convinced him to join him in a race he was going to participate in. He hadn't told him, that they wouldn't be sitting on horses, but on ostriches. Alexander had spent a whole week learning how not to fall off such a big bird while it was running faster than any human could ever hope to. His trials had finally ended with the race they had just finished.

“I'm actually surprised that you did this”, Alexander said.

“I need the exposure and the money for my park”, Mowgli explained. “All the other riders were very influential and very rich business men. I've managed to get a meeting with three of them next week. The day therefore was a complete success.”

“You are only saying that because you won”, Alexander teased him. “Can you call one of your elephants now to carry me home.”

“Sorry, the elephant racing is only next week. Don't look so shocked! I was just kidding.”

“Lex has probably told you already that it was quite difficult to get this whole park here up and running”, Mowgli said. “Money was of course a problem, but it wasn't the biggest one. I had to get into contact with a lot of people and keep them friendly towards my park.”

“And the only way to do this was strangely enough by participating in some crazy races”, Mr Tuniak said. “I'm still not convinced that you didn't invent at least half of them yourself, just so you could torture me some more.”

It was interesting to observe how Mr Tuniak acted and reacted differently, depending on who else was in the room. With Mowgli he appeared younger and full of youthful energy. Quite a contrast to the old man he had been in the underwater station.

“You could have stopped any time you wanted”, Mowgli reminded him.

“I needed the distraction”, Mr Tuniak admitted. “I didn't want to think about what I had been doing in the years before. Every time I had a quiet minute to myself, my thoughts turned to...”

“When did I ever let you have a quiet minute?”, Mowgli interrupted him.

Alexander was lying on a bench in the park and eating the nuts an ape has brought him as a token of his friendship.

“How do you feel?”, Mowgli asked.

“Older than I actually am”, Alexander answered. “One month spent with you and already I'm feeling as if I was sixty. And I still have another twenty years before I really get there.”

The way Mowgli looked at him made it clear that he doubted the accuracy of that claim.

“All right, maybe only fifteen years”, Alexander corrected himself. “What new craziness has your brain thought up now?”

“Another race”, Mowgli said. “And I have good news and bad news regarding it. The good news is that we will be using a car this time. The bad news is that the... race track is over twenty-five thousand kilometres long.”

“What?”, Alexander cried out in surprise. “Where did you find such a long street?”

“In America”, Mowgli told him. “It's a road that gets you from the most northern point of North America to the most southern point in South America. It's the longest continuous road in the world.”

“It will take us at least two weeks to make that trip”, Alexander said. “Why do you want me to join you there? Why don't you ask your fiancée?”

“Because one of us has to stay here and take care of the animals”, Mowgli explained. “And... didn't you know that she was pregnant?”

Alexander shook his head. “I'll happily come with you, but I have to tell you know that I have never driven a car before.”

“Never?”

“Nope. I've never needed it until now”, Alexander said. “For most of history one rides on horses. You have to remember that cars were only invented about a hundred years ago.”

“Yes, of course”, Mowgli said. “Well, you have about a month to learn it.”

“He had of course more time than that, since he owned a time machine”, Mowgli. “He travelled a hundred years into the past and learned how to drive with the first auto mobiles ever invented.”

“And you declared me insane for doing this”, Mr Tuniak remembered. “But afterwards you had to admit that it was a good thing.”

“Yes, it definitely was”, Mowgli admitted. Turning to me, he explained: “We had several accidents and... misfortunes along the road, which you were able to fix. The Panamerica road is not a road in the conventional sense of the word. There are hundreds of kilometres where it is nothing more than a dirt path right through the jungle. And while we were in South America I remember two days were it rained and rained as if a second flood was coming. We were no longer driving but basically swimming on the road which the motor of our car really didn't like.” He stood up and went to one of the shelves containing an endless number of books. “There were also disadvantages, of course.”

“So, how is it going?”, Mowgli inquired. “Are you ready for the longest race you'll ever do?”

“Yes, and I also know everything there is to know about cars”, Alexander said. “Did you know, for instance, that the first electric cars where invented in 1881 and that...”

“Do you also have practical knowledge or only theoretical stuff?”, Mowgli interrupted him impatiently. “Show me your driving license.”

“My driving license?”, Alexander repeated. “I don't have one.”

“But you do have a pass port, don't you?”, Mowgli asked.

Alexander shook his head. “Not, since I was a child”, he said.

“And how do you think will you get over the borders along the road?”, Mowgli wanted to know. “And that's ignoring the fact that no one will let you drive a car without a driver's licence.” He walking up and down. “You may have lived through the whole of history, but you have no idea about everyday life.”

“Calm down. When do we have to be in Prudhoe Bay?”, Alexander asked.

“Next week.”

“More than enough time. I'll call Philip.”

“Philip, as usual, was our saviour”, Mr Tuniak said. “With his help I managed to get the documents I needed. Well, I say get... we faked all of them. For several of those fakes I had to travel a few years into the past, because it was easier then.”

“Ah, here it is”, Mowgli announced and took a photo album from one of the shelves. “All the pictures we have taken during the race.”

The photos they showed me were impressive in the variety of landscapes they showed. They started with the frozen seas and snowed in valleys of Alaska, but every time I turned a page, the climate grew visible warmer. I saw more and more plant life, first only small bushes, but then solitary trees, which became forests. They had passed over mountains and under them, along lakes and through cities. Parts of the road were built right through the dry desert. A starker contrast to the first pictures taken can not be imagined. They had passed through the deepest jungles of South America, along its coast lines and climbed the passes of the Andes.

“I remember that stop very well”, Mowgli told me, as we were looking at a photo that showed snow capped mountain tops. “It was the first time since we were children that we ate ice from a glacier.”

“Yes”, Mr Tuniak. “We stayed there for so long, it cost us not only the lead, but also the second place, but it was absolutely worth it.”

“Definitely. But winning was never the most important thing anyway.”

“But why did you join the race then?”, I asked. “Just to meet new people, who might support your... park?”

“That too, but I have to admit I could have managed this through other means as well”, Mowgli said. “But you are mistaken, if you think that you should only do a sport, if you want to win. If you thought like that, you would go home very disappointed most of the time, because only one person can win and all the others loose.”

“So why do you do sports then?”

“To have fun, of course.”

NEXT WEEK

Das Bergsteigen wird durch die Existenz von Bergen sehr erschwert.