Part Seven: The Long Grift
The last chapter of my friendship with Daniel X. ended in 1999, as it was the last time I had any interaction with him. Betsy and I are still friends. When we get together and talk about the old times, the man we call “Daniel X.” eventually comes up in conversation. We reminisce and laugh, wondering what became of him. As far as we knew, he was still somewhere out west. We often joked about hiring a private detective to track him down and see what’s become of him. Of course neither of us were serious about following through on such a thing.
At the time of this writing, I had just seen a film called Color Me Kubrick. It was about an eccentric little con man who successfully impersonated filmmaker Stanley Kubrick solely for the purpose of scamming people for small sums of money and alcohol. I could not help but be reminded of Daniel X. My interest renewed — and by now, living in the Internet Age — I decided to run a Google search on him. What could it hurt? Quite a bit of information came up matching his name.
His real name is somewhat common, so I had to sift through the search results until I found articles or listings dealing with things like porn video, autograph collecting and gay writers. I found an Amazon wish list bearing name with items such as I Love Lucy DVD’s and classic movie poster reproductions — that were definitely of interest to the Daniel. According to Amazon, this Daniel X. lived in the Houston area as recently as 2005.
Another search result contain this curiosity:
Danial X., a published author of erotica and other fiction and produced playwright, leads the writer’s group session…
Produced playwright? What kind of scam did he have to perpetuate to get a play financed and produced? Or was this just another one of his many lies? I wanted to know more; it was all so perversely intriguing.
These results were good, but still a little too vague. There was no substance and no real proof, really, that it was the same Daniel X. I then headed over to Peoplefinder.com where I discovered that for $7.95, I could get the current and former addresses for any name that I typed in. I said to myself: “Ptttt, $7.95? What’s that? Nothing. Pocket change.” I punched in my credit card info and before long, I got four hits. All Daniel X., all places he’d lived (or I suspected he’d lived). But it still wasn’t enough. I discovered that for $49.95, you could get a full background check, which included criminal record, employment history, income statistics and more.
My curiosity grumbled like an empty stomach. My pulse quickened and like a junkie with a spoon and a lighter, I felt like I was on the verge of a satisfying fix. I was just a few dozen keystrokes away from knowing everything there was to know about Daniel X. I’d finally get an honest look at the life of a person who had deceived me for so long. The gaps would be filled in, the questions finally answered. But to what end?
I stopped right there.
As much as I wanted to know more about the saga of this minor sociopath, I knew could go no further. There was no way in Hell I was going to spend fifty bucks just to find out essentially useless information on a ex-friend. As oddy fascinated as I was, hadn’t he already mooched countless dollars and immeasurable amount of energy? I needed to let it go. I needed to walk away.
This became immediately clear to me when I realized that almost a decade after our association ended, Daniel still managed, in a roundabout way, to scam me out of money. Hell, it was only $7.95. But it wasn’t the amount that bothered me, so much as the principle. -fin-
Epilogue:
Many years after the Daniel X. saga concluded, I came across a booked called The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout, Ph.D. In this fascinating tome, Dr. Stout posits that, based on her casework and research, true sociopathic behavior is way more rampant in our society than one might expect.
What exactly is a sociopath, you might be asking? The broad definition, as defined by the American Psychiatric Associations’ Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, is a person who displays “a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others…” A person with this disorder can display characteristics such as an apparent lack of remorse or empathy, persistent lying, a tendency to violate the boundaries of others, superficial charm, a distorted sense of self, irresponsible work behavior, just to name a few. Sound familiar?
I think when most people hear the word “sociopath”, what comes immediately to mind are people like Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer. These types of individuals do indeed embody the more extreme sociopathic traits: Aggressive/violent behavior, verbally abusive, Egocentrism, megalomania, etc. Where it’s true that a serial killer is always a type of social path (and there is more than one kind), a sociopath isn’t always an amoral monster nor killer. In reality, you have probably met a sociopath and not even known it.
In her book, Dr. Stout posits that one out of every 25 Americans exhibits sociopathic behavior. I’m no mathematician, but could mean that at least four of our United States Senators is a sociopath. Although I’m pretty sure that number is much higher. But I digress…
My motivations for writing this story are similar to that of Dr. Stout’s for writing her book: To provide a cautionary tale. Obviously, her clinical expertise and detailed case studies do a much better job at explaining the different kinds of sociopaths and how to avoid them. My story is more of an anecdotal, a real life example (and hopefully entertaining one) of what can happen when you get mixed up with such a person. Thankfully, the end of my tale wasn’t as extreme as some run-ins with sociopaths — financial ruin, destroyed careers or relationships or murder. It could have turned out much worse if I wasn’t wise to his ways from the get-go.
“Sociopath” wasn’t part of my vocabulary when I first met him. For a long time I assumed he was merely a pathological liar, who’s worst crime seemed to be having an overactive imagination. In retrospect, his penchant for lying was only on part of his biography. If nothing else, Daniel X. became good storytelling fodder.
I can’t help but wonder who else out there has been victimized by his odd little cons. How many people were smart enough to call his bluff? How many of them end up caught in his deceitful little web? I suppose I’ll never know. However, I do walk away with the weird experience and knowledge of how to spot such a troublesome character. But do you? X
