Mike Thayer - The Double Life of Danny Day

My name is Danny Day. Ive ditched school 346 times, and I still have perfect attendance. I broke my leg last week, but I dont have a cast. I never study for a test or quiz until Ive seen whats on it. Ive played more than four thousand hours of video games in the past three years, and yet my parents have hardly seen me play. How is this all possible, you ask? Well, the answer is pretty simple: I live every day twice.

Yeah, thats right. Since my birth, some eleven and a half years ago, Ive been living every day twice. Well eleven and a half calendar years, that is. To me its been twice that long, so, I guess, in a way Im actually twenty-three. Thats also probably the only way in which Im twenty-three, though. Going through elementary school twice doesnt exactly make you an adult.

The first time I go through a day, its a discard day. Its kind of like a practice run. Nothing I say or do ever sticks. At the end of the day, I go to bed, wake up, andpoofeverything gets reset, everything except my memory, that is. Most of the time thats a pretty cool thing. I get to do all sorts of stuff without any lasting consequences. My standard is just faking sick and playing video games all day, but I do enjoy my fair share of pranks and stunts. Just last week I broke my record for most candy bars eaten in a day (seventeen, thank you very much), I borrowed my parents car for an evening and did doughnuts in the church parking lot, and I jumped off the garage roof to test my bedsheet parachute (did I mention I recently broke my leg?).

The second time I go through a day is the sticky day. Thats when everything is normal, just like it is for everyone else in the world. Thats when I play for keeps, and my actions and their consequences stick. As you could probably guess, Sticky Day Danny is very different from Discard Day Danny. Sticky Danny is on time to school, does his chores, doesnt draw attention, eats a fraction of the junk food, and doesnt jump off garages.

Its not all sunshine and rainbows, though. Take today and tomorrow, for example. Instead of spending two days driving behind a moving truck from Houston to Idaho, I get to spend four days driving behind a moving truck from Houston to Idaho. Thats when the double day becomes a curse: when Im caught in an unpleasant situation and I cant figure a way to weasel out of it. You ever had the stomach flu, where youre either sitting on or kneeling next to the toilet? Well, I have. Nothing quite like getting another crack at one of those days. Not to mention that when I was little, my parents thought I was insane. Heck, I thought I was insane, always bringing up conversations and events that no one seemed to remember. It took a pretty unconventional therapist in the end to help me work through it all and convince my parents I wasnt nuts. They still dont know exactly whats going on, and ever since I learned to play things cool on my sticky days, they seem happy not knowing. Dr. Donaldson was a good dude, and leaving him behind in Texas was no small sacrifice.

Now, if youre wondering why all of this happens, then that makes two of us. Ive been reading a lot of comics lately to see how superheroes get their powers, and Ive ruled out more than 150 different ways. As far as I can tell, Im not the product of some scientific experiment gone wrong, I was never caught in a radioactive laboratory explosion, and I have never been exposed to an alien life-form. The only thing I can point to is my birthday: February 22 at 2:22 a.m. In case you were wondering thats 2/22 at 2:22 a.m. Im not positive, but Id be willing to bet it was also on the twenty-two-second mark. Anyway, no matter how it happens, or why it happens, just trust me. It happens.

Im Danny Day, and I live every day twice.