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Chapter 6
Donatello found himself up early and silently thanked Karai for helping him practice Ninja like silence. He made his way through the house towards his parents’ room, managing to make no sound as he went. He looked at the clock and estimated the time it would take him to complete his mission. He had only a few minutes before his father would be awakened by its bell. He made his way over to the vanity where his parents kept their things.
Donatello grabbed his father’s hair oil and his mother’s peroxide. He then proceeded to pour a little of his father’s hair oil down the sink drain. After he had poured a good amount down the drain, while still leaving just enough in the bottle for his uses, he started to pour the peroxide into the bottle. He then shook the bottle of hair oil so that the coloring would match and put both bottles away just as the alarm went off!
Donatello’s eyes widened as he dropped to the ground and started crawling to a place to hide. He crawled into the closet as his father made his way to the bathroom, completely oblivious to the genius in his room. Donatello crawled away, this time aiming for the door when he was suddenly stopped by his mother awakening. He froze, fearing his parent’s had caught him, when he noticed she was still wearing her sleeping mask; a green mask with creepy large brown eyes that were wide open. Donatello sighed in relief and made his escape, his parents were none the wiser of his plans.
Harry splashed his oil into his hair with little care, unknowing of his adopted son’s deception. “Michael, come into my room!”
“What?” Michael asked in an undignified tone. He didn’t like getting called in early, especially if it was to be in trouble.
“My boy,” Harry grinned. “Today’s the day I take you to the shop, what do you say?”
“I don’t know, what do you say, Dad?” Michael was glad for an excuse to get out of school, he wasn’t all that good at it anyway.
Harry turned around with a somewhat serious face. “I say, appearance is nine tenths of the law. People don’t buy a car; they buy me, which is why I personally take such pride in my appearance; well-oiled hair, a clean shave, snappy suit.” He said as he showed a plaid jacket that was traditional of the seedy salesmen. Harry then smiled. “Now run along and get ready for a big day of learning.” He turned back towards the mirror to finish oiling his hair. “It’s gonna be a big day of learning too. There’s a sucker born every minute, and we’re gonna take ’em for all they got.” He had no idea of how well that phrase applied to him as well, especially as he continued to “Oil” his hair with the peroxide mixture his adopted son had made.
Donatello was ready for another day as he picked out the waffles from the toaster and put them on his plate. Michael, ever the unhealthy and rude, yelled at his mother. “Give me the cookies!”
She was used to it though, as she probably would have eaten them too at his age. “Here ya go.” She said as she tossed the package of chocolate chip to her son.
Donatello was eager to see how long it would take before the effects of his work went into play. He sat down at the breakfast nook and put syrup on his waffles as he waited for his father to come along. He didn’t have to wait long as the joyful tune of the ignorant man came to his young ears. He had to use all of his control to keep from breaking into a smile too early, after all, his parents thought he was an idiot for some reason.
“Hey my boy! Heir to the throne,” Harry came into the dining room that was connected to both the kitchen and the living room. “Today we diddle the customer.”
Michael dropped his cookie from his hand and had his mouth wide open with shock. Donatello on the other hand pursed his lips to not only keep himself from laughing, but to also keep his waffle bits in his mouth.
“What’s wrong with you?” Harry asked with some concern. He had yet to see that his usually black hair had now turned blonde in the center, as though it was greying from the center out. “What are you looking at?” He then turned towards his wife who had yet to see what had happened. “Love kins, where’s my breakfast?”
Donatello smirked as he turned his attention towards his mother for her reaction. “Here we are my heart strings… Wha? AAH!” She gasped as she looked at her husband, dropping a bowl’s worth of skittles and a bowl’s worth of cheerios to the floor while still holding said bowls. “Snickerdoodles, what did you do to your hair?”
“My hair?” To Harry, his hair was one of his best features, which sadly enough it was since he lacked a great personality. Donatello risked a small smile as his father went to look in a nearby mirror. Zinnia and Michael followed to see his reaction. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Needless to say he found it so shocking that he fainted as Donatello took a sip of his orange Kool-Aid.
He grinned. ‘I don’t lie.’
Chapter 7
After recovering from his fainting episode, Harry grabbed a hat and made his sons help him get some packages from the garage and put them into the car. Donatello climbed in after handing his father what appeared to be a wheel wrapped in brown paper. Michael had a pipe. “Get in.” their father shouted to them as he put the parts into the trunk. Unbeknownst to them, or at least to the elder two, they were being watched.
Dirty dealings, like buying stolen car parts never stay secret for long, especially when the FBI gets involved. From across the street in their black car, two FBI agents were snapping pictures of Harry and his car parts.
“9:17, Suspect exits Domicile.” The smarter of the two says while using his recording device.
“I’ve got 9:18.” The second corrects.
The first looks at his watch and turns the recorder back on. “9:17 is correct.”
It didn’t take long to get to Harry’s place of work and fortune, Wormwood Motors. It was a small place with lots of cars, most of them at really cheap prices, true, but not as cheap as Harry had gotten them.
“Michael,” Harry said proudly as he brought the boys into the garage. Donatello knew what was coming and was in no way offended. “One day all this will be yours.”
Donatello grimaced. ‘Knew it.’
“This?” Michael asked as he looked at a junk filled garage with lemons all over the place (The car not the fruit ).
Harry grinned. He pointed to the nearest car that they were going to work on today. “See this Junker? I paid a hundred dollars for her. She’s got a hundred and twenty thousand miles on her, transmission’s shot, bumpers have fallen off. What do I do with her?” He used his finger to right a few more zeroes next to the hundred in the dusty windshield. “I sell her!”
Harry grabbed a can of “Super Super Glue” and started to paint it into the connecting part of a bumper with his sons on either side of him.
“We really should weld these bumpers on, but that takes time, equipment, and money. So, we use ‘Super Super Glue’ instead.” He then had the two boys attach it to the old car that looked like it would fall apart from touching it. Donatello wanted to fix it properly, and probably could thanks to some of the books he had read recently. “Go ahead, put it on there.”
Much to Donatello’s surprise, his older brother asked a reasonable question. “Won’t it fall off?”
“Definitely.” Harry kicked the bumper into place.
“Isn’t that dangerous?” Donatello asked innocently. ‘Of course it’s dangerous! It’ll fall apart before the first wreck if not be the cause of it!’
“Not to me, okay.” Harry defended. He then grinned as he clapped his hands together. “Now for the transmission.” He grabbed a can of sawdust and started to put it into the engine, much to Donatello’s horror. “The sawdust quiets the gears and lets the engine run sweet as a nut… for a couple of miles.” He laughs.
“Daddy that’s cheating!” Donatello scolds, trying to get his father to see reason.
“Of course it’s cheating! Nobody ever got rich being honest!” After that was done, he went to the back and grabbed a special drill and got under the car. “Now for the mileage counter.”
“What are you gonna do about that, dad?” Michael asked curiously. He was intrigued by his father’s ‘Ingenuity’ on how to run a business while Donatello was just disgusted by it.
“Twenty years ago, we could turn the numbers back by hand.” He then grabbed his hat and handed it to Michael. “Here, take my hat.” Michael put the hat on a nearby bench next to the super glue. “But the Feds like to test the ingenuity of the American business man.” He crawled under the car with some tools. Once he was happy with the wiring he had just done, he crawled out and opened the driver door. He showed his boy the drill he had in his hands. “Two directional drill. Run it backwards, the numbers go down.” He smiled as he started it. He noticed the glimmer of excitement in Michael’s eyes and was pleased. “Watch the speedometer.” The numbers went back at a rapid pace.
“Cool.” Michael smiled.
“See?”
“Yeah.”
“Daddy you’re a crook!” Donatello frowned, displeased with his father’s actions.
Harry was shocked. He stopped the drill and looked at his adopted son. “What?”
“This is illegal!” Donatello stomped his foot to the ground. His red-brown eyes filled with anger and sadness.
Harry frowned and passed Michael the drill. “Here, keep drilling.” He then stood up at full height over his adopted son and glared at him. “Do you make money? Do you have a job?”
“No, but don’t people need good cars? Can’t you sell good cars dad?” Donatello pleaded with his father. ‘Would it kill him to be honest with one thing in his life?’
“Listen you little wiseacre, I’m smart, you’re dumb. I’m big, you’re little.” He used his hand to point these ideas out to the young boy. “I’m right, you’re wrong, and there’s nothing you can do about it!” He then returned to his work, leaving Donatello to ponder this.
‘Karai always said I was smart… maybe my parents are the really dumb ones instead… besides, this really is illegal.’ Donatello thought as he looked at his father’s hat and the glue next to it. ‘Time for another punishment, father…’
The beep of a horn caused the two boys to stop their work and look up. Zinnia was driving up in her car happily shouting for her husband. “Harry! I won! I won! I hit the double Bingo!” She screeched.
While the rest of the family was distracted, Donatello decided to play a small trick on his father as punishment for being a criminal. He dabbed a little of the glue onto inner rim of the man’s hat and grabbed it by the edge so that it wouldn’t touch him.
“Come on everybody, I’m taking you all to Café La Ritz!” Zinnia smiled proudly. Donatello grinned. He had never been taken out before.
“Let me see the money!” Harry said as he made his way towards the car with Michael following right behind him.
“Never mind.” Zinnia smiled, keeping it for herself. ‘When he sees how much money I got he’ll want to keep it for himself or store it in some bank where I can’t touch it like all the rest of it.’
“Double Bingo, eh?” Harry smiled. “Oooh.”
“God, your hair looks awful. I hope they let you in.”
“They’ll let me in.” Harry frowns.
Donatello ran up to him with a smile on his face, as though happy for his mother’s success. “Here’s your hat, daddy.”
“Get in the car.” Harry took the hat as Donatello rushed to get into the back with his brother. He then looked to his wife after his hat is on his head. “How much?”
“It’s for me to know and you to find out.”
“Pfft.” The family drove off without noticing the glue brush is sitting on top of the can, dripping glue onto an a rag instead of sitting in the can.
Chapter 8
When they got to the café, Donatello was surprised by how fancy it was and is glad that he had worn his best button up blouse with a purple jacket and brown shorts that day. The car was parked at the edge of the parking lot, and everyone was quick to get out.
“It’s nice to go out sometimes.” Zinnia said with a smile.
“Yeah.” Harry agreed.
“You never take us out.”
“Course I do. I took you to the Flipper.”
“I don’t remember any of the Flipper.”
“The fish joint, you found that comb in the Buller baize.”
“OH yeah, I liked that joint.”
As they entered, they were greeted by a waiter. Donatello looked around his surroundings, being the only one in his family who was dressed for the occasion. His reddish brown eyes widened as his eyes fell upon a girl with dark black on the upper half of her hair and bright yellow on the bottom, much like a bee’s colors. ‘Karai!’
Karai also noticed Donatello and smirked. Donatello just grimaced, he didn’t want her to see the horrible family he had. The Wormwood family was led to a table somewhat near Karai’s own table, as she sat by herself while her ninja bodyguards were sitting at the surrounding tables. Karai watched the family with interest, especially since Donatello was already smiling about something. ‘He did something… I just know it… or at least he knows something they don’t… let’s see what you did, “Little brother”.’ Karai had also deemed Donatello as a sibling figure in her life, but one that she could rarely see thanks to her foster father trying to train her to be a master ninja at such a young age. She was skilled, but despite her foster father’s thoughts, she was still a child.
“Harry, take your hat off.” Zinnia said as they walked towards their table.
“I can’t.” Harry was confused as he tried to pull his hat off.
“This is a nice place, you can’t wear a hat inside.” Zinnia gave fake smiles to everyone, trying to act as though she belonged among them.
“I can’t take it off.” Donatello smirked as he sat down at the table. His brother Michael was too busy watching his parents to notice a silent exchange between Donatello and Karai.
“What did you do?” Karai mouthed with a giggle.
Donatello smiled his toothy smile with the hole in the front. “Glue” was all he mouthed as more attention was being brought to his family. He himself turned towards his parents to act as though he was also puzzled.
Karai just smiled. ‘Glad I’m on his good side, hehe.’
“Harry, nobody cares what your hair looks like.” Zinnia had started to pull on the hat.
“I can’t get it off.” Harry repeated.
“What’s with this hat?”
“I can’t get it off.” He repeated this several times as Zinnia kept pulling on it.
“Just a minute, I’ll get it.” She started pulling harder. “I’m going to get this hat off.” Harry started grunting. “I’m pulling it!”
“Ack! Owowowowowowowowowowow!” Some children in the area were laughing, save for Michael, Donatello, and Karai. Donatello had a small smile on his face, but not one that was noticeable by his parents, and Karai was hiding her smile behind her hand as she was near laughing. Michael was just looking at his parents dumbly.
“I think your head swollen up really big!” She pulled with all her strength, making her husband start to yell in pain. Many of the patrons were watching in confusion, some wondering how they had even been allowed into such a restaurant.
“EH, you’re pulling the skin!”
“Ooh! You’re such a baby, stop that.”
“Fibers are fused to the head!” Karai started chuckling softly at that point, nearly losing control. ‘He must have been really mean to Donatello for him to pull this prank.’
“Fibers are fused? What is that supposed to mean?” Michael was looking at his parents with a painful look, glad that he wasn’t part of it as his mother kept yanking on his father’s head. “Give me that hat!” Donatello started to bite his lower lip with his front teeth, interested in what was going to happen.
Finally the hat gave way, or at least the rim of it anyway. Zinnia had managed to rip off the rim around Harry’s hat and ended up back-flipping off a table behind her while her husband landed on some guests. As he tried to get up, he bumped into a waiter with some menus. The menus went flying into the air where another waiter grabbed them with some ninja like skill, no doubt a hidden member of one of the local ninja clans, like the Foot. Harry meanwhile had then proceeded to land on the end of the desert cart.
Donatello’s mind was racing to keep up with the events going on around him as multiple deserts flew into the air, among them were some fruit tarts and cream pies of some sort. One of the menus that the waiter had not been able to catch had landed on two forks. The forks flew up into the air along with the desserts. Donatello smiled as it flew and thought about how cool it would be if a dessert landed right in front of him and Karai without getting them messy. He was happily surprised when a fruit tart with whip cream on top had landed in front of him with a fork in it. He looked over to Karai and let out a small chuckle when he saw the same had happened to her. She was now covering her laughter with her hand, trying to stifle her amusement. Donatello then looked at his brother with equal amusement, but kept quiet as a cream pie splattered in front of him, covering him and some of the patrons behind him in whipped cream.
Donatello took a bite from his desert in front of him. “Mmmm.” Michael looked up in disbelief as his little brother just used his fork to gain another bite of his fruit tart, the patrons behind him uncovered from cream. Karai just smiled and tried some in front of her. She had to agree with Donatello, the fruit tarts were good.
Chapter 9
Back at the Wormwood residence, Zinnia started to cut the remainder of the hat off of Harry’s head with a set of army scissors. Harry was furious. “I will not be the figure of ridicule. I want respect and I want it now.” Donatello was reading in his usual chair while Michael had already started to eat his TV dinner. Zinnia never learned how to cook, so snack foods and TV dinners were a main meal for the Wormwood family, not that the older three minded, as they liked to watch television while eating.
Harry grunted as Zinnia continued cutting around the base of the hat, trying to get it off. “I still don’t see how you glued your hat on Harry. I mean, I know you say you didn’t, but obviously you did.”
“I did not glue my hat to my head. The hat shrunk, the fibers fused to my hair.” Donatello rolled his eyes and continued to read his book.
“Baby, wait a minute. I’m getting it now. One more.” Zinnia was right, as the hat now came off, but along with it came a portion of Harry’s hair. “Oh my, God.” She laughed.
Harry was livid as he looked into the handheld mirror. He put the mirror back down and declared, “From now on, this family does exactly what I say, when exactly, when I say it!”
“Here’s your hat, Harry.” Zinnia smiled as she handed the remnants of the hat back to her husband.
Harry grabbed it and threw it to the ground before moving his table towards him so he could eat his TV dinner. “And right now, we are eating dinner and watching TV.” He furiously turned the television onto his favorite show, The Million Dollar Sticky. Donatello was still reading though. Harry turned to Michael. “Turn your light off.” Michael did as he was told.
As the announcer explained how the game show worked, Harry then turned to Donatello, who not only had his light on, but was also still reading. Harry hated that. He slammed the silverware down and got up from his chair. He stomped over to the boy with the glasses and frowned at him. Donatello looked up at his father with little concern. “Hi, dad.” His father never paid him any attention when something good was going on, only when trouble was afoot.
“Are you in this family?” Donatello sighed. He knew this was going to be trouble. “Hello? Are you in this family?” Harry turned off Donatello’s light. “Dinner time is family time.” Donatello resisted the urge to roll his eyes. His father rarely treated him like a member of the family, and the fact that they had no documents he could find of himself even existing only served to prove that matter. He would have run away, but he had nowhere to run, and they knew it. “What is this trash you’re reading?”
“It’s not trash, daddy, it’s lovely. It’s called Moby Dick by Herman Melville.”
“Moby what?” Harry lost it. He grabbed the book and started to tear out pages of it, much to Donatello’s horror. “This is filth! Trash!”
“It’s not mine! It’s a library book!” Donatello cried out as one of his favorite stories was shredded in front of his eyes. ‘I hope my allowance will cover that… oh, how am I going to explain it to the librarian?’
“I’m fed up with all this reading!” Harry yelled. “You’re a Wormwood, you start acting like one!” Donatello would have argued that he had found no evidence of even a birth certificate saying he was a Wormwood, but he knew that his parents didn’t have any idea that he had read everything in the house years ago. Harry grabbed Donatello by the head. “Sit up and look at the TV.” He held the boy’s head in place and forced him to watch as a contestant was covered in a sticky goop to try and collect money.
Donatello was furious. What right did his father, if he could really even call him that, have to tear up books from the library? What right did he have to force his second child to stay home everyday instead of letting him go to school to learn? What right did he have to call a literary treasure like Moby Dick trash when he himself had probably never read a book in his life? The other members of the family were laughing as the man on TV kept trying to stick money onto himself. Donatello glared at the TV and wished it would explode. A moment later, Donatello had found that his wish had been granted. The television had exploded, scaring all in the family but him. His mother screamed as the explosions happened.
“I didn’t do it.” Were the first words out of his mouth, and yet, in his mind, he felt that he had. ‘If they don’t throw it away, I’ll fix it later…’ Donatello had learned a lot from the books that his father so hated.
“Of course you didn’t do it, you little twit.” Harry grumbled. He had been holding the boy’s head in place and the child had been n where near the TV.
“I told you that was a cheap set.” Zinnia slowly made her way towards the smoking set with her son right behind her.
“It’s not a cheap set, it’s a stolen set.” The box fizzled a little more, threatening to do more damage.
“Bummer.” Michael was also upset, but not Donatello.
Donatello was confused. Was it magic? Or just a coincidence? It is said that humans use only a tiny portion of their brains. Donatello might never have discovered his own great strength were it not for the events that happened the next day…
Chapter 10
“…I need a car, inexpensive, but reliable, can you service me?” A man named Oroku Saki asked as he entered Wormwood Motors. It had been years since he had last met Harry, and that had been then day when he had given him the cash to keep a troublesome two day old baby out of his hair. Harry did not forget the day, but he had forgotten the man due to a representative being the one to give him the boy.
“In a matter of speaking, yes.” Harry gave his fake smile that he used on all the customers. “Welcome to Wormwood Motors,” He held out his hand. “Harry Wormwood, owner, founder, whatever…”
“Oroku Saki, Principal and Leader of the Foot Clan. Headmaster of Ninjitsu Hall; for Ninjas in training.” His grip had nearly broken Harry’s hand. “I warn you sir, I want a tight car because I run a tight ship.”
“Oh yeah, huh? Well I…”
“My school is a model of discipline. Squish the children, form the warriors, and use the rod, beat the child; those are my mottos.”
“Terrific mottos.”
“You have brats, yourself?” As if he didn’t know.
“Yeah, I got a boy, Michael, and one mistake, Donatello.”
“They’re all mistakes, children; save for my daughter Karai. She’s an adult in a child’s body, a full warrior that one. Usually they’re filthy, nasty things, glad I never was one.”
“Uh-huh. Well, since you’re an educator, I’ll make you a great deal.”
“You had better, for your sake.” The tall giant of a man’s eyes bore into Harry’s skull as though trying to fry whatever he called a brain.
Harry held up a set of keys to a car he had just finished “Fixing” and smiled. “Let’s do business.” That night, Harry went into Donatello’s room. Donatello was working on fixing the television that had been broken the night before. “What are you doing?”
“Fixing the TV.”
“Since when could you do that?”
“Since I was four.” The young tinkerer said as he hit the box one last time. It was plugged into his room’s wall so he could test that it worked. He grimaced as he saw that it did in fact work. “There you go, dad. One fixed television set.”
“Um… thanks?” Donatello smiled as he turned off the TV set and unplugged it. “Oh, right!” Harry snapped his fingers as he remembered why he had come in there in the first place, “You’re going to school tomorrow.”
Donatello froze. “I am?”
“Yep. First thing tomorrow.”
Donatello jumped up and hugged his father, “Thank you, thank you!”
“Yeah, yeah, you’ll get a real education at this place. Some sort of Ninja school or something.” Harry rolled his eyes. Donatello then helped his father to move the television back to the living room to surprise his mother and older brother. It was the first time they were actually happy with the young boy being in their house.

:P (Lick) — Description
Chapter 6
Donatello found himself up early and silently thanked Karai for helping him practice Ninja like silence. He made his way through the house towards his parents’ room, managing to make no sound as he went. He looked at the clock and estimated the time it would take him to complete his mission. He had only a few minutes before his father would be awakened by its bell. He made his way over to the vanity where his parents kept their things.
Donatello grabbed his father’s hair oil and his mother’s peroxide. He then proceeded to pour a little of his father’s hair oil down the sink drain. After he had poured a good amount down the drain, while still leaving just enough in the bottle for his uses, he started to pour the peroxide into the bottle. He then shook the bottle of hair oil so that the coloring would match and put both bottles away just as the alarm went off!
Donatello’s eyes widened as he dropped to the ground and started crawling to a place to hide. He crawled into the closet as his father made his way to the bathroom, completely oblivious to the genius in his room. Donatello crawled away, this time aiming for the door when he was suddenly stopped by his mother awakening. He froze, fearing his parent’s had caught him, when he noticed she was still wearing her sleeping mask; a green mask with creepy large brown eyes that were wide open. Donatello sighed in relief and made his escape, his parents were none the wiser of his plans.
Harry splashed his oil into his hair with little care, unknowing of his adopted son’s deception. “Michael, come into my room!”
“What?” Michael asked in an undignified tone. He didn’t like getting called in early, especially if it was to be in trouble.
“My boy,” Harry grinned. “Today’s the day I take you to the shop, what do you say?”
“I don’t know, what do you say, Dad?” Michael was glad for an excuse to get out of school, he wasn’t all that good at it anyway.
Harry turned around with a somewhat serious face. “I say, appearance is nine tenths of the law. People don’t buy a car; they buy me, which is why I personally take such pride in my appearance; well-oiled hair, a clean shave, snappy suit.” He said as he showed a plaid jacket that was traditional of the seedy salesmen. Harry then smiled. “Now run along and get ready for a big day of learning.” He turned back towards the mirror to finish oiling his hair. “It’s gonna be a big day of learning too. There’s a sucker born every minute, and we’re gonna take ’em for all they got.” He had no idea of how well that phrase applied to him as well, especially as he continued to “Oil” his hair with the peroxide mixture his adopted son had made.
Donatello was ready for another day as he picked out the waffles from the toaster and put them on his plate. Michael, ever the unhealthy and rude, yelled at his mother. “Give me the cookies!”
She was used to it though, as she probably would have eaten them too at his age. “Here ya go.” She said as she tossed the package of chocolate chip to her son.
Donatello was eager to see how long it would take before the effects of his work went into play. He sat down at the breakfast nook and put syrup on his waffles as he waited for his father to come along. He didn’t have to wait long as the joyful tune of the ignorant man came to his young ears. He had to use all of his control to keep from breaking into a smile too early, after all, his parents thought he was an idiot for some reason.
“Hey my boy! Heir to the throne,” Harry came into the dining room that was connected to both the kitchen and the living room. “Today we diddle the customer.”
Michael dropped his cookie from his hand and had his mouth wide open with shock. Donatello on the other hand pursed his lips to not only keep himself from laughing, but to also keep his waffle bits in his mouth.
“What’s wrong with you?” Harry asked with some concern. He had yet to see that his usually black hair had now turned blonde in the center, as though it was greying from the center out. “What are you looking at?” He then turned towards his wife who had yet to see what had happened. “Love kins, where’s my breakfast?”
Donatello smirked as he turned his attention towards his mother for her reaction. “Here we are my heart strings… Wha? AAH!” She gasped as she looked at her husband, dropping a bowl’s worth of skittles and a bowl’s worth of cheerios to the floor while still holding said bowls. “Snickerdoodles, what did you do to your hair?”
“My hair?” To Harry, his hair was one of his best features, which sadly enough it was since he lacked a great personality. Donatello risked a small smile as his father went to look in a nearby mirror. Zinnia and Michael followed to see his reaction. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Needless to say he found it so shocking that he fainted as Donatello took a sip of his orange Kool-Aid.
He grinned. ‘I don’t lie.’
Chapter 7
After recovering from his fainting episode, Harry grabbed a hat and made his sons help him get some packages from the garage and put them into the car. Donatello climbed in after handing his father what appeared to be a wheel wrapped in brown paper. Michael had a pipe. “Get in.” their father shouted to them as he put the parts into the trunk. Unbeknownst to them, or at least to the elder two, they were being watched.
Dirty dealings, like buying stolen car parts never stay secret for long, especially when the FBI gets involved. From across the street in their black car, two FBI agents were snapping pictures of Harry and his car parts.
“9:17, Suspect exits Domicile.” The smarter of the two says while using his recording device.
“I’ve got 9:18.” The second corrects.
The first looks at his watch and turns the recorder back on. “9:17 is correct.”
It didn’t take long to get to Harry’s place of work and fortune, Wormwood Motors. It was a small place with lots of cars, most of them at really cheap prices, true, but not as cheap as Harry had gotten them.
“Michael,” Harry said proudly as he brought the boys into the garage. Donatello knew what was coming and was in no way offended. “One day all this will be yours.”
Donatello grimaced. ‘Knew it.’
“This?” Michael asked as he looked at a junk filled garage with lemons all over the place (The car not the fruit ).
Harry grinned. He pointed to the nearest car that they were going to work on today. “See this Junker? I paid a hundred dollars for her. She’s got a hundred and twenty thousand miles on her, transmission’s shot, bumpers have fallen off. What do I do with her?” He used his finger to right a few more zeroes next to the hundred in the dusty windshield. “I sell her!”
Harry grabbed a can of “Super Super Glue” and started to paint it into the connecting part of a bumper with his sons on either side of him.
“We really should weld these bumpers on, but that takes time, equipment, and money. So, we use ‘Super Super Glue’ instead.” He then had the two boys attach it to the old car that looked like it would fall apart from touching it. Donatello wanted to fix it properly, and probably could thanks to some of the books he had read recently. “Go ahead, put it on there.”
Much to Donatello’s surprise, his older brother asked a reasonable question. “Won’t it fall off?”
“Definitely.” Harry kicked the bumper into place.
“Isn’t that dangerous?” Donatello asked innocently. ‘Of course it’s dangerous! It’ll fall apart before the first wreck if not be the cause of it!’
“Not to me, okay.” Harry defended. He then grinned as he clapped his hands together. “Now for the transmission.” He grabbed a can of sawdust and started to put it into the engine, much to Donatello’s horror. “The sawdust quiets the gears and lets the engine run sweet as a nut… for a couple of miles.” He laughs.
“Daddy that’s cheating!” Donatello scolds, trying to get his father to see reason.
“Of course it’s cheating! Nobody ever got rich being honest!” After that was done, he went to the back and grabbed a special drill and got under the car. “Now for the mileage counter.”
“What are you gonna do about that, dad?” Michael asked curiously. He was intrigued by his father’s ‘Ingenuity’ on how to run a business while Donatello was just disgusted by it.
“Twenty years ago, we could turn the numbers back by hand.” He then grabbed his hat and handed it to Michael. “Here, take my hat.” Michael put the hat on a nearby bench next to the super glue. “But the Feds like to test the ingenuity of the American business man.” He crawled under the car with some tools. Once he was happy with the wiring he had just done, he crawled out and opened the driver door. He showed his boy the drill he had in his hands. “Two directional drill. Run it backwards, the numbers go down.” He smiled as he started it. He noticed the glimmer of excitement in Michael’s eyes and was pleased. “Watch the speedometer.” The numbers went back at a rapid pace.
“Cool.” Michael smiled.
“See?”
“Yeah.”
“Daddy you’re a crook!” Donatello frowned, displeased with his father’s actions.
Harry was shocked. He stopped the drill and looked at his adopted son. “What?”
“This is illegal!” Donatello stomped his foot to the ground. His red-brown eyes filled with anger and sadness.
Harry frowned and passed Michael the drill. “Here, keep drilling.” He then stood up at full height over his adopted son and glared at him. “Do you make money? Do you have a job?”
“No, but don’t people need good cars? Can’t you sell good cars dad?” Donatello pleaded with his father. ‘Would it kill him to be honest with one thing in his life?’
“Listen you little wiseacre, I’m smart, you’re dumb. I’m big, you’re little.” He used his hand to point these ideas out to the young boy. “I’m right, you’re wrong, and there’s nothing you can do about it!” He then returned to his work, leaving Donatello to ponder this.
‘Karai always said I was smart… maybe my parents are the really dumb ones instead… besides, this really is illegal.’ Donatello thought as he looked at his father’s hat and the glue next to it. ‘Time for another punishment, father…’
The beep of a horn caused the two boys to stop their work and look up. Zinnia was driving up in her car happily shouting for her husband. “Harry! I won! I won! I hit the double Bingo!” She screeched.
While the rest of the family was distracted, Donatello decided to play a small trick on his father as punishment for being a criminal. He dabbed a little of the glue onto inner rim of the man’s hat and grabbed it by the edge so that it wouldn’t touch him.
“Come on everybody, I’m taking you all to Café La Ritz!” Zinnia smiled proudly. Donatello grinned. He had never been taken out before.
“Let me see the money!” Harry said as he made his way towards the car with Michael following right behind him.
“Never mind.” Zinnia smiled, keeping it for herself. ‘When he sees how much money I got he’ll want to keep it for himself or store it in some bank where I can’t touch it like all the rest of it.’
“Double Bingo, eh?” Harry smiled. “Oooh.”
“God, your hair looks awful. I hope they let you in.”
“They’ll let me in.” Harry frowns.
Donatello ran up to him with a smile on his face, as though happy for his mother’s success. “Here’s your hat, daddy.”
“Get in the car.” Harry took the hat as Donatello rushed to get into the back with his brother. He then looked to his wife after his hat is on his head. “How much?”
“It’s for me to know and you to find out.”
“Pfft.” The family drove off without noticing the glue brush is sitting on top of the can, dripping glue onto an a rag instead of sitting in the can.
Chapter 8
When they got to the café, Donatello was surprised by how fancy it was and is glad that he had worn his best button up blouse with a purple jacket and brown shorts that day. The car was parked at the edge of the parking lot, and everyone was quick to get out.
“It’s nice to go out sometimes.” Zinnia said with a smile.
“Yeah.” Harry agreed.
“You never take us out.”
“Course I do. I took you to the Flipper.”
“I don’t remember any of the Flipper.”
“The fish joint, you found that comb in the Buller baize.”
“OH yeah, I liked that joint.”
As they entered, they were greeted by a waiter. Donatello looked around his surroundings, being the only one in his family who was dressed for the occasion. His reddish brown eyes widened as his eyes fell upon a girl with dark black on the upper half of her hair and bright yellow on the bottom, much like a bee’s colors. ‘Karai!’
Karai also noticed Donatello and smirked. Donatello just grimaced, he didn’t want her to see the horrible family he had. The Wormwood family was led to a table somewhat near Karai’s own table, as she sat by herself while her ninja bodyguards were sitting at the surrounding tables. Karai watched the family with interest, especially since Donatello was already smiling about something. ‘He did something… I just know it… or at least he knows something they don’t… let’s see what you did, “Little brother”.’ Karai had also deemed Donatello as a sibling figure in her life, but one that she could rarely see thanks to her foster father trying to train her to be a master ninja at such a young age. She was skilled, but despite her foster father’s thoughts, she was still a child.
“Harry, take your hat off.” Zinnia said as they walked towards their table.
“I can’t.” Harry was confused as he tried to pull his hat off.
“This is a nice place, you can’t wear a hat inside.” Zinnia gave fake smiles to everyone, trying to act as though she belonged among them.
“I can’t take it off.” Donatello smirked as he sat down at the table. His brother Michael was too busy watching his parents to notice a silent exchange between Donatello and Karai.
“What did you do?” Karai mouthed with a giggle.
Donatello smiled his toothy smile with the hole in the front. “Glue” was all he mouthed as more attention was being brought to his family. He himself turned towards his parents to act as though he was also puzzled.
Karai just smiled. ‘Glad I’m on his good side, hehe.’
“Harry, nobody cares what your hair looks like.” Zinnia had started to pull on the hat.
“I can’t get it off.” Harry repeated.
“What’s with this hat?”
“I can’t get it off.” He repeated this several times as Zinnia kept pulling on it.
“Just a minute, I’ll get it.” She started pulling harder. “I’m going to get this hat off.” Harry started grunting. “I’m pulling it!”
“Ack! Owowowowowowowowowowow!” Some children in the area were laughing, save for Michael, Donatello, and Karai. Donatello had a small smile on his face, but not one that was noticeable by his parents, and Karai was hiding her smile behind her hand as she was near laughing. Michael was just looking at his parents dumbly.
“I think your head swollen up really big!” She pulled with all her strength, making her husband start to yell in pain. Many of the patrons were watching in confusion, some wondering how they had even been allowed into such a restaurant.
“EH, you’re pulling the skin!”
“Ooh! You’re such a baby, stop that.”
“Fibers are fused to the head!” Karai started chuckling softly at that point, nearly losing control. ‘He must have been really mean to Donatello for him to pull this prank.’
“Fibers are fused? What is that supposed to mean?” Michael was looking at his parents with a painful look, glad that he wasn’t part of it as his mother kept yanking on his father’s head. “Give me that hat!” Donatello started to bite his lower lip with his front teeth, interested in what was going to happen.
Finally the hat gave way, or at least the rim of it anyway. Zinnia had managed to rip off the rim around Harry’s hat and ended up back-flipping off a table behind her while her husband landed on some guests. As he tried to get up, he bumped into a waiter with some menus. The menus went flying into the air where another waiter grabbed them with some ninja like skill, no doubt a hidden member of one of the local ninja clans, like the Foot. Harry meanwhile had then proceeded to land on the end of the desert cart.
Donatello’s mind was racing to keep up with the events going on around him as multiple deserts flew into the air, among them were some fruit tarts and cream pies of some sort. One of the menus that the waiter had not been able to catch had landed on two forks. The forks flew up into the air along with the desserts. Donatello smiled as it flew and thought about how cool it would be if a dessert landed right in front of him and Karai without getting them messy. He was happily surprised when a fruit tart with whip cream on top had landed in front of him with a fork in it. He looked over to Karai and let out a small chuckle when he saw the same had happened to her. She was now covering her laughter with her hand, trying to stifle her amusement. Donatello then looked at his brother with equal amusement, but kept quiet as a cream pie splattered in front of him, covering him and some of the patrons behind him in whipped cream.
Donatello took a bite from his desert in front of him. “Mmmm.” Michael looked up in disbelief as his little brother just used his fork to gain another bite of his fruit tart, the patrons behind him uncovered from cream. Karai just smiled and tried some in front of her. She had to agree with Donatello, the fruit tarts were good.
Chapter 9
Back at the Wormwood residence, Zinnia started to cut the remainder of the hat off of Harry’s head with a set of army scissors. Harry was furious. “I will not be the figure of ridicule. I want respect and I want it now.” Donatello was reading in his usual chair while Michael had already started to eat his TV dinner. Zinnia never learned how to cook, so snack foods and TV dinners were a main meal for the Wormwood family, not that the older three minded, as they liked to watch television while eating.
Harry grunted as Zinnia continued cutting around the base of the hat, trying to get it off. “I still don’t see how you glued your hat on Harry. I mean, I know you say you didn’t, but obviously you did.”
“I did not glue my hat to my head. The hat shrunk, the fibers fused to my hair.” Donatello rolled his eyes and continued to read his book.
“Baby, wait a minute. I’m getting it now. One more.” Zinnia was right, as the hat now came off, but along with it came a portion of Harry’s hair. “Oh my, God.” She laughed.
Harry was livid as he looked into the handheld mirror. He put the mirror back down and declared, “From now on, this family does exactly what I say, when exactly, when I say it!”
“Here’s your hat, Harry.” Zinnia smiled as she handed the remnants of the hat back to her husband.
Harry grabbed it and threw it to the ground before moving his table towards him so he could eat his TV dinner. “And right now, we are eating dinner and watching TV.” He furiously turned the television onto his favorite show, The Million Dollar Sticky. Donatello was still reading though. Harry turned to Michael. “Turn your light off.” Michael did as he was told.
As the announcer explained how the game show worked, Harry then turned to Donatello, who not only had his light on, but was also still reading. Harry hated that. He slammed the silverware down and got up from his chair. He stomped over to the boy with the glasses and frowned at him. Donatello looked up at his father with little concern. “Hi, dad.” His father never paid him any attention when something good was going on, only when trouble was afoot.
“Are you in this family?” Donatello sighed. He knew this was going to be trouble. “Hello? Are you in this family?” Harry turned off Donatello’s light. “Dinner time is family time.” Donatello resisted the urge to roll his eyes. His father rarely treated him like a member of the family, and the fact that they had no documents he could find of himself even existing only served to prove that matter. He would have run away, but he had nowhere to run, and they knew it. “What is this trash you’re reading?”
“It’s not trash, daddy, it’s lovely. It’s called Moby Dick by Herman Melville.”
“Moby what?” Harry lost it. He grabbed the book and started to tear out pages of it, much to Donatello’s horror. “This is filth! Trash!”
“It’s not mine! It’s a library book!” Donatello cried out as one of his favorite stories was shredded in front of his eyes. ‘I hope my allowance will cover that… oh, how am I going to explain it to the librarian?’
“I’m fed up with all this reading!” Harry yelled. “You’re a Wormwood, you start acting like one!” Donatello would have argued that he had found no evidence of even a birth certificate saying he was a Wormwood, but he knew that his parents didn’t have any idea that he had read everything in the house years ago. Harry grabbed Donatello by the head. “Sit up and look at the TV.” He held the boy’s head in place and forced him to watch as a contestant was covered in a sticky goop to try and collect money.
Donatello was furious. What right did his father, if he could really even call him that, have to tear up books from the library? What right did he have to force his second child to stay home everyday instead of letting him go to school to learn? What right did he have to call a literary treasure like Moby Dick trash when he himself had probably never read a book in his life? The other members of the family were laughing as the man on TV kept trying to stick money onto himself. Donatello glared at the TV and wished it would explode. A moment later, Donatello had found that his wish had been granted. The television had exploded, scaring all in the family but him. His mother screamed as the explosions happened.
“I didn’t do it.” Were the first words out of his mouth, and yet, in his mind, he felt that he had. ‘If they don’t throw it away, I’ll fix it later…’ Donatello had learned a lot from the books that his father so hated.
“Of course you didn’t do it, you little twit.” Harry grumbled. He had been holding the boy’s head in place and the child had been n where near the TV.
“I told you that was a cheap set.” Zinnia slowly made her way towards the smoking set with her son right behind her.
“It’s not a cheap set, it’s a stolen set.” The box fizzled a little more, threatening to do more damage.
“Bummer.” Michael was also upset, but not Donatello.
Donatello was confused. Was it magic? Or just a coincidence? It is said that humans use only a tiny portion of their brains. Donatello might never have discovered his own great strength were it not for the events that happened the next day…
Chapter 10
“…I need a car, inexpensive, but reliable, can you service me?” A man named Oroku Saki asked as he entered Wormwood Motors. It had been years since he had last met Harry, and that had been then day when he had given him the cash to keep a troublesome two day old baby out of his hair. Harry did not forget the day, but he had forgotten the man due to a representative being the one to give him the boy.
“In a matter of speaking, yes.” Harry gave his fake smile that he used on all the customers. “Welcome to Wormwood Motors,” He held out his hand. “Harry Wormwood, owner, founder, whatever…”
“Oroku Saki, Principal and Leader of the Foot Clan. Headmaster of Ninjitsu Hall; for Ninjas in training.” His grip had nearly broken Harry’s hand. “I warn you sir, I want a tight car because I run a tight ship.”
“Oh yeah, huh? Well I…”
“My school is a model of discipline. Squish the children, form the warriors, and use the rod, beat the child; those are my mottos.”
“Terrific mottos.”
“You have brats, yourself?” As if he didn’t know.
“Yeah, I got a boy, Michael, and one mistake, Donatello.”
“They’re all mistakes, children; save for my daughter Karai. She’s an adult in a child’s body, a full warrior that one. Usually they’re filthy, nasty things, glad I never was one.”
“Uh-huh. Well, since you’re an educator, I’ll make you a great deal.”
“You had better, for your sake.” The tall giant of a man’s eyes bore into Harry’s skull as though trying to fry whatever he called a brain.
Harry held up a set of keys to a car he had just finished “Fixing” and smiled. “Let’s do business.” That night, Harry went into Donatello’s room. Donatello was working on fixing the television that had been broken the night before. “What are you doing?”
“Fixing the TV.”
“Since when could you do that?”
“Since I was four.” The young tinkerer said as he hit the box one last time. It was plugged into his room’s wall so he could test that it worked. He grimaced as he saw that it did in fact work. “There you go, dad. One fixed television set.”
“Um… thanks?” Donatello smiled as he turned off the TV set and unplugged it. “Oh, right!” Harry snapped his fingers as he remembered why he had come in there in the first place, “You’re going to school tomorrow.”
Donatello froze. “I am?”
“Yep. First thing tomorrow.”
Donatello jumped up and hugged his father, “Thank you, thank you!”
“Yeah, yeah, you’ll get a real education at this place. Some sort of Ninja school or something.” Harry rolled his eyes. Donatello then helped his father to move the television back to the living room to surprise his mother and older brother. It was the first time they were actually happy with the young boy being in their house.