Daniel: A Different Kind of Hero

Daniel: A Different Kind of Hero

Gary Grissom

Daniel looked as if he had stepped off the screen of a horror film. He was tall and muscular but had a large head with dark brooding eyes and a four-inch scar on the right side of his face. His lower lip was usually pressed down by his tongue which protruded slightly. Daniel always sat in the back of his classes at Dana Jr. High and ignored the lessons the teachers were giving. Everyone feared him. That is, everyone except coach Brock who saw athletic potential in Daniel.

“Stick your tongue back in your mouth Daniel. You look like an idiot!”

Daniel turned around and looked menacingly at coach Brock. No one had ever dared to speak to him like that. For a hushed moment, they stared at each other. Then Daniel started walking slowly forward and stopped two feet from the coach.”

“It’s my tongue coach and I’ll stick it out if I want to, and I don’t give a damn if you don’t like it.”

“Hey, you’re a real tough guy aren’t you Daniel.”

“Tough enough to kick your sorry ass.”

“No you’re not. And I’m not going to give you the opportunity to try.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re not worth losing my job over.”

“No…that’s not the reason. You’re just plain ol’ chicken shit.”

“Daniel, I don’t care what you think of me. But I gotta be honest. I think you have athletic potential. I’ve seen how you play all our sports and you’re the best athlete in our gym class.”

“Well whoop de do coach. Do you want me to bend down and kiss your ass for that compliment?”

Coach Brock broke into nervous laughter and said “No. I just want you to start taking school seriously. If you do, you could play football and baseball when you get to Pt. Loma High next year. That is, if you get there.”

“Hell..I don’t care about that. I just want to be a tuna fisherman like my ol’ dad. I’m only going to this crappy school because my mother wants me to. I just do enough homework and studying to barely pass.”

“You’re wasting your talents son. You could go far if you apply yourself.”

“Don’t call me son. I’m sure as hell not your son and I’d be ashamed if I was. And don’t ever tell me to stick my tongue back in my mouth again or call me an idiot!”

Coach Brock shook his head and walked away as my gym class friends and I stared with a mixture of disbelief and admiration.

“Okay everyone take a lap.” Coach said over his shoulder.

As we were running, Daniel easily ran well ahead of all of us.

“That guy has brass balls.” a friend next to me said. “I’ll bet he kills somebody one of these days. He’s a spooky dude.”

“Yeah.” I agreed. “He didn’t show any fear of coach and coach is even bigger than Daniel.”

“You two guys better not let him hear you talking about him.” a friend said behind us.

“Yeah…you’re right, But he’s out of earshot now.”

The next day there was a rumor going around school that someone had broken the windshield of coach’s car. There were no witnesses but everyone suspected it was done by Daniel. We were all in anticipation of a showdown between him and coach in our afternoon gym class.

Usually, at the beginning of our gym period, coach Brock took roll call by simply calling out our names from his attendance sheet on his clipboard. Instead, this time he walked up to each of us and stared into our faces and said our names as we answered that we were present. But when he got to Daniel he paused and said “Daniel…look me right in the eye.”

Daniel looked coach in the eye with an expression of pure hatred and asked “Now why in the hell do you want me to look into your ugly ass eyes coach? Are you in love with me?”

There was suppressed laughter as coach Brock’s face turned crimson.

“Look you bastard! Are you the idiot that broke my windshield yesterday afternoon?”

Daniel looked as cool as an ice cycle and said “Now coach, I told you not to call me an idiot again. That isn’t very nice and I’m going to principal Wallace to complain about you. May I be excused now?”

“Get the hell out of here!”

“Ok coach, but don’t I need a hall pass to go to the principal?” Daniel asked sardonically.

“Sure I’ll give you a pass and I’d also like to kick you in the ass.”

“Oh that rhymes coach Brock. I didn’t know you were also a poet.”

Coach Brock filled out a form on his clipboard and handed it to Daniel.

“I will talk to Principal Wallace at the end of the day and add how you have threatened me and have used excessive offensive language.”

“Later dude. Maybe we can have a three-way conversation where I’ll tell the truth about how you’ve mistreated me.”

As Daniel turned and walked away, coach said “Stay away from him boys. If you hang around a loser like him you will end up a loser too.”

The next day we learned that when Principal Wallace attempted to give swats to Daniel, he had knocked the paddle out of Wallace’s hand. Then he forcibly turned Mr. Wallace over his knee and gave him about a dozen hard swats. All of us kids laughed and cheered at this astounding news. Daniel was expelled of course and was sent to Juvenile Hall. But he was now heralded as a hero and we all missed him terribly.

As the years passed, I wondered whatever had become of Daniel. Then one day as I boarded a half- day sport fishing boat, I saw him. He had put on about thirty pounds of muscle and was now the skipper of the boat. He no longer had his tongue protruding over his lower lip and he no longer scowled. He nodded as I walked by him and he said “How you doin’? I haven’t seen you since Jr. High.”

I was surprised that he recognized me.

“Oh hi Daniel. I’m doing okay and I can see you’re going well.”

“Yep I am. This is where I belong…taking people out fishing in the open sea.”

“Daniel…I gotta tell you. When you swatted old man Wallace in his office, you became an instant hero to the whole school.”

He chuckled and said “Yes, I whipped his sorry ass good.”

“You got even for all of us kids he swatted with that damned paddle.”

Daniel continued welcoming the fishermen aboard and then said “Welcome aboard everyone! We’re going out to the Pt. Loma kelp beds today and fill your gunny sacks with yellowtail, bonito, barracuda and anything else that swims out there.”