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Silence

“Ow, Raphie! Waaah!”

Splinter's peaceful meditation session was shattered by the sound of a screaming Michelangelo.

He sighed and began the countdown. “three...two...one...”

“Da-a-d-y-y-y!”

Michelangelo burst through the dojo's entrance, sobbing and holding onto his arm.

“What happened, Michelangelo?”

“Raphie...” He began, but stopped to catch a breath. “R-raphie...he h-hit me...”

Raph burst through the entrance. “He's lying!”

“N-nuh-uh! Daddy h-he hit me!”

“Boys, enough!” Splinter's voice rose as he came to his feet. “Now, one at a time. Michelangelo, what happened?”

Mikey sniffled. “W-we were pl-laying Go Fish with th-the cards a-and...a-and I...”

“...and Mikey wouldn't stop spitting on me and Raph every time someone said 'Go Fish'!” Donnie barged in and added.

“Donatello,” Splinter scolded, “I was asking Michelangelo. You must wait your turn if you have any input.”

Donnie groaned and crossed his arms. “Hai, Sensei.”

“He's lying!” Leo shouted as he too burst into the dojo.

Splinter sighed.

“Mikey was just joking around and making fart noises and Raphie and Donnie got mad, so Raphie hit him!”

“Please, my sons,” Splinter's voice rose again, “I was asking Michelangelo. You will all get a chance to speak. Michelangelo, please continue.”

“W-what Leo said...” Mikey pouted. “I-I was j-just making noise w-with my mouth. The g-game needed s-sound effects. R-Raphie got mad a-and hit me in my arm.”

Splinter turned to his son with the infamous short temper. “Is this true, Raphael?”

“No!” Raph argued defensively. “Mikey was making that noise 'cuz he wanted to spit on me and Donnie! I didn't hit him! I just pushed his arm to get him to stop.”

“He cried 'cuz he's being a baby!” Donnie added.

“I'm not a baby!” Mikey retorted.

“Raphie did too hit him,” Leo said. “He punched him in the arm!”

“Enough!” Splinter shouted. “Michelangelo, I am sure you meant no harm in making your 'sound effects'; however, if your brothers complained that you were spitting on them, then you should not have continued.”

Mikey looked down shamefully. “Hai, Sensei.”

Raph stuck his tongue out at Mikey out of spite.

“Raphael,” Splinter scolded, “I hardly believe that your brother was crying because you only pushed on his arm. I understand that you did not like that Michelangelo was mistakenly spitting on you, but it is no reason to hit him, nor does it solve anything.”

Raph groaned. “Hai, Sensei.”

“Leonardo and Donatello,” he continued, “you should not take sides when you can plainly see that both of your brothers are wrong. Donatello, you knew that Raphael hit Michelangelo, and Leonardo, you could see that Michelangelo was spitting on your brothers. If you are going to defend them, then you must tell the whole truth.”

“Hai, Sensei,” they said in unison.

“Good,” Splinter said. “Now, I want to hear an apology between each of you.”

Mikey reluctantly turned to Raph. “Sorry if I was spitting on you, Raphie. I just wanted to make some noises to make the game more fun. You shoulda told me I was.”

Raph glared. “I did tell you! A hundred times, but you didn't listen!”

“Well maybe if you' were nicer, I woulda listened to you!”

“And maybe if you had listened, Raphie wouldn't have hit you!” Donnie spat.

“Well maybe if you guys weren't such jerks, then Mikey's sounds wouldn't have bothered you so much!” Leo retorted.

Splinter groaned. “Enough of this!” he shouted.

The boys jumped and immediately were snapped to into attention.

Splinter sighed. “I have an idea. How about we play a game. It is called 'The Quiet Game'.”

Mikey perked up. “How do you play?”

Splinter grinned. “Whoever can be quiet for the longest amount of time wins.”

“I bet I can do it!” Raph chirped. “I bet I can do it better than any of you!”

“What are the rules?” Leo asked.

“The rules are that you must be as quiet as you can: no laughing, no talking, no noise-making, or engaging in any activities that will make a large amount of sounds.”

“Well, what about sneezing or burping or farting?” Mikey asked.

“Those things are fine, as long as they are natural and not being done just to make noise,” Splinter replied.

“What do we get if we win?” Donnie asked.

“You will find in time,” Splinter smirked. “It starts in three...two...one...” He gave them the signal to begin by putting his index finger to his mouth. He sat down and returned to his meditation.

The boys left the dojo to begin their silent challenge.

Leo decided that he would follow his father's example. He sat Indian-style in the middle of the living room floor and tried to focus his wandering five-year-old mind. He closed his eyes and took steady breaths, trying to relax all of his muscles. Gradually, he controlled his mind to focus only on his breaths and before long, his mind and body were in a fully relaxed and concentrated state.

Raph, not usually one to enjoy silent activities, sat on the couch trying to think of something energetic yet quiet that he could do. How could he keep his body moving without making much noise? He saw Leo meditating and thought of morning training. That was it!

Raph got into position down on the floor and began to stretch his muscles before he went to doing as many push ups as his small body could withstand.

Donnie never found it hard to find a quiet activity to do at all. Most of his favorite activities possessed a low noise level.

He went to the room that he and Mikey shared and pulled a book out from under his blankets. He had been secretly reading it before he fell asleep every night when he was supposed to have already been sleeping.

The brainy turtle returned to the living room and planted himself on the couch, eager to engage in a quiet activity knowing that his brothers had to be quiet as well.

Mikey, being the most playful and energetic, hated trying to find a quiet activity. He moped off to his room and slumped down on his bed, not sure of what else he could possibly do. His eyes scanned around his room, paying particular attention to his past drawings that hung on the wall. Maybe he could color some more? He went to his cardboard box of belongings and retrieved a small stack of papers and a worn-out box of Crayola crayons.

Mikey grinned from the artistic inspiration and took off for the living room where he plopped down on the floor on his stomach and began to draw a picture of himself cooking in their kitchen.

Before any of the little turtles knew it, three hours of silence had gone by. Leo was still meditating, Raph had fallen asleep on the couch after a hard workout, Donnie had nearly finished the book that he had been reading, and Mikey had already drawn countless pictures of things that he loved: worms and algae, his family, cartoons, and the sunshine (though he'd only seldom seen it).

Splinter finally emerged from his quarters and was pleased to see that his sons had been engaging in rather productive activities.

“My sons,” he announced, “the game is now over. It is okay to make noise again.”

Raph, only being in a light sleep, sat up and yawned. “Who wins?” he asked.

Splinter grinned. “You all win.”

Mikey picked up a piece of paper and handed it to Splinter. “I drew this for you, daddy!”

Splinter knelt down and accepted the drawing, draping an arm around his young artist's shell. “This is very creative, Michelangelo. Why don't you explain to me what is happening in this picture?”

Mikey pointed to the large figure in the middle. “That's you meditating and there next to you, that blue guy, that's Leo, he's meditating too, and over there is Raphie, he's exercising, and there's Donnie reading a book, and over there is me, drawing a picture. It's our family doing what we did today.” He looked at his father with hope in his eyes. “Do you like it?”

Splinter smiled and kissed his cheek. “I love it. I am very proud of all of you. You were able to set a goal and focus on a task and complete it. Very good.”

The boys said nothing, but simply smiled back.

“So when is dinner?” Raph piped up. “I'm starving.”

“I was just off to make it now,” Splinter stood up and made his way to their kitchen.

Mikey ran after him. “Can I help, daddy? I wanna help!”

Splinter chuckled. “Of course you can. I could not do it without my little helper.”