The Trouble With Danny

Content warning: offensive, hurtful insults; language; talk of violence

I'm beginning to worry about Danny. His behavior is becoming more erratic. For a time, I thought maybe he was just another angry young man, but he seems to be taking a darker turn.

In hindsight, maybe the signs have been there for a while. His disagreement with the server, for instance, feels more than quirky now. He was, after all, having lunch with his mother. His mother. It was ridiculous, really; the server refilled his mother's iced tea without asking, and that triggers...what?...triggers something in him. He told the server she should've asked before refilling; fair enough. The server was apologetic: "sorry, sir, you're right, I shouldn't assume," that kind of thing. But he was really, genuinely angry about it, and the anger persisted. 

Whatever I thought of it at the time, it's clear that wasn't an isolated event. There were other things after that, things which taken by themselves might not mean much, but taken together might very well form a pattern. Snapping at the poor checkout clerk in the SaveMore store, or demanding to see a manager at the home improvement big-box because something he wanted was out of stock.

The trouble at the pharmacy was a clear escalation. He believes the pharmacist gave him "a look" as she rang up his anti-anxiety meds. "What does that look mean, huh? How dare you judge me. Do I need to speak to your manager?" Again, the other side of this was apologies and apparent submissiveness, but that wasn't enough. He stomped angrily through the rest of the day, slamming doors, banging pots, and yelling at the TV news at home.  

Ben's his oldest friend; they've known each other since grade school. Not that either of them--Ben or Danny--were, or are, angels. Mostly the incidents weren't too serious: ding-dong-ditch, windows soaped at the house of someone they considered a mutual enemy, a bit of minor shoplifting, mostly candy. They hit a low-point when Ben's parents were out of town. They were fourteen, and decided to take a joyride in the family car. That one ended when a tree mysteriously leapt out in front of them, as they told each other later, to mutual belly laughs. There were cuts and bruises, but they escaped any police involvement, somehow. By tenth grade, they knew how to get booze when they wanted it, which was too often.

Ben has been noticing changes for a few months; he told his wife, Ginny, about some of the incidents. He told her Danny's behavior was becoming angrier, more hostile. He used the word "frightening," in fact. 

But Ben hasn't told her, at least not yet, about Danny's outbursts at him. Danny has always had a bit of a temper, but their squabbles, even if sometimes sharp, were always quickly patched up. If they had harsh words at mid-day, by dinner they were back to being old friends.

After work a few weeks ago, they were having a few beers in Danny's car before he dropped Ben at home. They were laughing hard at something; Ben absent-mindedly clapped his hands, and sloshed most of his beer onto the car seat. Danny went ballistic. He called Ben a "careless pig," and a "fat slob;" he said things about Ben's mother. He calmed down quickly, and even managed a weak, half-hearted apology, but the incident left Ben uneasy. He's been trying to keep just a bit of distance from Danny since then.

Things have gotten worse quickly in the last week, since the environmental protesters showed up. I wouldn't have thought their demonstrations outside the small factory where Danny and Ben work would've affected anyone much. It's a small plant, making agricultural chemicals, mostly herbicides and some fertilizers. Public anger at a company can sometimes result in a bit of a bump up in employee loyalty--"us versus them," so to speak. Some angry interactions between employees and the protesters were certainly expected. 

Danny, though, has reacted very strongly, and very, very unexpectedly. He seems to be drawn to the young woman leading the protest group; fair enough, they're about the same age, he's single, she's attractive in what might be called an "earthy" way.

But Danny seems smitten. Worse, he's enthralled, obsessed even. Ben's been worried about Danny's potential interactions with the group, given his recent temper outbursts, but Danny just stared at the group for the first day or two. Soon enough, he approached the young woman, Dawn. When Ben saw this, he hurried to intercede; he was sure there would be an altercation.

Instead, he found the two engaged in a civil, even respectful, conversation. Danny asked her why, or what, exactly, she was protesting. She started with an earful about dangerous chemicals that can stay in the environment for decades, and went on from there.

Ben protested, which was also a bit unexpected. Danny is the fiery one, Ben more the go-along-to-get-along one. But Ben was angry; he used the phrase "ignorant bullshit" more than once. It's a quite surprising Danny didn't jump in to back him up, but the shocker is what came next: Ben called the woman a "stupid bitch," and Danny wheeled on him, grabbed him with both hands, and half-pushed, half-dragged him away. "Look, you fucking moron," he started, and it went downhill from there.

After that, Ben reminded himself to keep his distance from Danny, whatever the circumstances. But two days later, on Friday, the end of the workweek, Danny approached him.

"We've got to do something about this place," he said, gesturing at the factory. "It's poisoning the land, it's killing animals, it's probably even killing people." Ben stood in shocked silence. "I want to figure out a way to shut the place down. I know some things about the General Manager, I can get him thrown out. I think I can figure a way to get the documents they keep locked up, I can bring the whole thing down." He paused and wiped his mouth. "I did some dark-web research on arson. If it comes to it, well..." He trailed off. "You with me?"

Ben was not with him, and told him so.

"Okay, chicken-shit. If you're thinking about turning me in, remember I know where you live, and I know the skeletons in your closet, too. Would Ginny want to know all the things you got up to before you met her, you think? Look at you and your stupid fat face, you don't have the balls..." And so on. And on, and on, and on.

So what do I do about this? What can I do? Danny is my creation, after all. I wrote his backstory, all of it, though not all of it appears in the current draft, of course. Far too much detail. I brought him into being, quirks, faults, big, sloppy grin, all of it. Then I turned him loose, with some ideas about where he would go, figuratively speaking, and what he would do once he's there.

And now I've lost control. My agent wants to see another couple chapters ASAP, and I just don't know how to get Danny back onto the arc I imagined: I don't know how to fix the trouble with Danny.