The Ballad of the Midnight Snack

Slipping from the shadow,

With silent stealth he came,

His stomach growled for pizza he

Had come to steal the same.

The solitary ninja crept,

Past three other shadows quiet,

Deep in sleep—or so he thought—

One was prepared to fight.

He snuck down the hall,

His mission near its end,

The pizza that he sought

Lay just beyond the bend.

Peering 'round the corner,

Into the darkened gloom,

Aware only of pizza that

Was soon to be his doom.

His heart sped up,

His breath caught—

Envisioning the midnight snack

That would be his, he thought.

Behind him in the dark,

Was another ninja silent.

His wide mouth formed a grin but his

Intention was quite violent.

The other slunk into the kitchen

Followed by his foe,

A voice came from his brother:

"What's up, Michelangelo?"

Mikey jumped and turned about,

He readied for a fight,

His brother laughed and said:

"It's Raphael, alright?"

The light flicked on and

Mike winced and squinted,

"I was only hungry, why'd you come?"

"There's enough for two," Raph hinted.

The younger nodded in assent,

Mike's movements were clever and deft,

He opened up the fridge and saw

There was only one piece left.

The two stood still and

Both had the selfsame thought.

They looked at each other, grinned

And simultaneously fought.

Mike aimed a kick but was

Forced to block a punch,

Both brothers fell and there

Was such a mighty crunch!

They broke a chair and as

They rolled upon the floor,

They were so intent on fighting that

They never heard the door.

At long last after violent struggle,

Raph had pinned Mikey down,

But both brothers stopped when

They heard a strange sound.

Mikey took advantage of

This brief respite by

Freeing up a hand and

Hitting Raph hard on the thigh

Raph let out a strangled moan,

For Mike had missed his thigh,

Mike was free and up he jumped,

Triumph in his eye.

He strode toward the fridge to where

His prize he'd won by way

Of cheating in a fight lay waiting,

For him to come and claim.

Michelangelo reached out and touched

The handle of the fridge door,

He pulled it wide, heedless of

His groaning brother on the floor.

But what he saw inside

Pricked a hole in his swelling pride with a hissing

Awful noise—

For the last piece of pizza was missing!

Back in the dark of the sleeping chamber,

Don replayed the scenes in his head,

Licking his fingers for leftover grease, he

Finished the last of the pizza in bed.