Danny

“Who the hell spearfish’s?” was my first thought when my good friend Danny told me about his past weekend. It’s such a random sport to be passionate about, yet a definite light comes across his face with some sparkles in his eyes, making the situation even more curious to me. To understand why Danny loves spearfishing, I think one needs to know some things about him.
Danny is the craziest friend I’ve ever made. I say this confidently because no one else in my 21 years of life has reminded me so much of Kramer from Seinfeld. He truly does walk in unannounced. Often. He truly does light a cigarette from your stove, drunk and stoned on his birthday at 3:30 a.m., disregarding the fact that you are clearly asleep. He is also truly intelligent, especially in finance and mathematics, mixed with some serious voltage of ADHD. But I do love him. Danny’s the sweetest kid you will ever meet with an unbelievably optimistic outlook on life, living and love. It’s hard for even me to imagine this is true, though because he has one hell of a rough ride through his childhood:
His parents separated before he ever even learned to walk. When he was barely into school, his father died. His mother then, could not take care or control of him and decided to send him to military school. Yes, Danny went to military school, thoroughly disciplined and trained. So Danny went to military school and he loves spearfishing. It makes sense now.
As he’s trying to talk to me about spearfishing, he keeps going off topic. I ask him, “So, Danny, how did you get into spearfishing? What made you want to pick up that speargun, dive into some deep waters and spearfish?” He replies, “Spearfishing’s awesome. It’s such a thrill. I just love living.” I pause and say, “Danny that’s great but, how did you get yourself into spearfishing?” He disregards me yet again and goes off to talking about his dream of finding Nicole.
Who’s Nicole, you ask? Nicole is a great white shark who has broken speed and distance records, according to National Geographic. This marine animal swam from Africa to Australia and back again at record speed; a phenomenal feat for such an animal, but a great achievement as well for those scientists who were able to keep track of her. The scientists following Nicole (named after Nicole Kidman--apparently a shark lover) could now begin to examine and prove the fact that fish are not aimless, but actually systematic in their ventures.
The funny part of all this research I did was when I noticed the article dates. This all happened in 2005-2006. All I could say at the time was, “oh, Danny…”. This kid actually believes that one day Nicole will make it out across the Atlantic Ocean, to the eastern coast of North America, where he will miraculously snorkel upon this almighty great white while he fearlessly spearfishes.
Attempting to research and pry into Danny’s life yet another time around seemed ridiculous to me. I was in no way about to try to uncover his deep, subconscious desire for spearfishing. I wouldn’t have found it as interesting or entertaining as his subconscious desires and dreams of Nicole. So instead, I present you Danny: the coolest kid at Pace University who just so happens to spearfish and has this perverse fetish for powerful great white sharks.