Goleo wandered out into the cool April evening disconsolate but full. He was stared at by quite a few people and he knew it was his leonine mane. He was being mistaken for someone else, when approached by many strangers including a athletic gentleman with quick darting eyes enquiring “Rudi, where the devil have you been? You should be on the field.” Who was this Rudi? He wondered; eventually dismissing it as one of those unsolvable mysteries. Like where do all the socks in the laundry disappear? Anyways, he never wore socks. So there.
Women found him attractive and before he knew it he was being seen in dance clubs boogeying to Kraftwerk and BoneyM with the most beautiful women. He went through a series of intense relationships going from woman to woman like a drunken badger. Heidi Klum, Ute Lemper, Angela Merkel, and Bridgid the stork at the Berlin Zoo. But he soon got disillusioned finding out that they loved him for his body and not his brains. With one roar he would get rid of the drunken sleazebags trying to schmooze his date. Women fell for that all the time. That and the fact that he gave the best tips on hair in the world. Tina Turner collect called him on her new hairdo. Ike called him up too but it was not a hair related question. He still felt empty and used. “What’s love got to do with it?” He again wondered.
Confused and heartbroken he found solace in music. And Germans took notice. With one stroke of his paw he could play the whole 5th of Beethoven on the piano and purr out Winter Wonderland at the same time. They loved him. The concert would be over in less than a few minutes, giving the audience more time at home to gorge on bratwurst and lager while watching endless reruns of “Hogans Heroes.” It was a good deal and marked the beginning of Post Modernism in Germany.
Something, however was still missing in all that Sturm und Drang. Goethe the idea? He auditioned for the “Lion King” but Disney turned him down because he was not animated enough. Goleo suffered from an existential crisis and checked himself into the Betty Ford clinic. He was shown countless pictures of lions by a well meaning psychologist and he would tense up breaking out in a cold sweat, leaving claw marks on the mahogany table. Ebony and Ivory became a hit. A podiatrist was called. Goleo knew it was time to check out.
Look for Part III: Goleo finds Pille
For a look back, here is Part I