Story-A-Day #141: The Fool

THE FOOL

No dare was too big for The Fool.

On a Grade 6 field trip to the Toronto Zoo, his friends had dared him to take a short cut. He accepted without a second thought and found himself dashing wildly through a wide stretch of rugged terrain towards a distant fence. He was halfway there when he realized the wooded area was used to house more than a dozen snarling wolves. His friends found it hilarious.

In Grade 7, while sailing with a friend’s family on Georgian Bay, He decided it might be good for a laugh if he “accidentally” tumbled overboard. He did, and the choppy waves and brisk currents nearly overwhelmed him. That particular prank didn’t earn him many laughs, but what doesn’t kill you…

The following year, again at the bidding of his friends, he set up a rope swing at the top of a 35-foot cliff to “get a little further out into the water”. Before taking the plunge, he gave the rope two firm tugs then with a short run, leapt from the cliff. The drop was sloppy and the impact of the water knocked the wind out of him. The snapped tree limb that followed him down nearly knocked the sense out of him. His friends once more, found it hilarious.

Throughout college, he would stack empty bottles and glasses at parties, seeing how high he could get the teetering stacks before the toppled and smashed. He would pick fights with guys twice his size to see if he could take them.

He supposed it was some form of neurosis. It didn’t matter what was asked of him, he could not say no. He had bungee jumped, sky dived, ran with the bulls, scuba dived with sharks, surpassed the speed limit by 70 kilometres per hour, and ingested an infinite range of drinks, foods, and illegal substances.

One time, he had even scaled the outside of an apartment building just because he had been told he couldn’t.

He who dares wins, he would say, as though the SAS motto rationalized everything. He had been injured and sickened many times, but he always managed to pull through. Maybe there was truth to the statement.

He figured he would always be like this, that no challenge would ever be too great. And he was fine with that too. Why not, right? No harm no foul. He supposed one day, his shenanigans would catch up with him, but until then, he would continue talking life head on.

What he never expected was that all is would take to end it all was another simple challenge. He was standing on a rocky beach on the West coast of Canada with a girl he had known for years. They were good friends and he could see a look of concern in her eyes. Then she said it: “I dare you to stop being so reckless – I dare you to settle down with me and start a family.”

He couldn’t say no. And that was how the fool grew up: because he dared to.