Disclaimer: Don't own it.
A Fortune's Promise
The sound of water dripping slowly into the sewers from the streets above echoed stridently in the early hours of the morning. Cars zipped by above as well, accompanied by shouts, horns, and the pounding of feet on the pavement as the city and its inhabitants awoke and began their busy days.
As sunlight poured in through a drain, a furry, and seemingly ordinary, rat awakened in his small, yet cozy burrow in the sewers. Serenely stretching his stiff limbs, Splinter scurried from his little den to the puddle of water that had dripped from the streets above onto the floor of the sewer. Cupping his tiny paws together, he brought the cool water to his face to wash away some of the dirt and grime that had collected upon his fur, then briskly shook dry.
With a twitch of his whiskers and a swish of his tail, Splinter scampered up to the surface to begin another day of scavenging. Emerging from a drain, the rat carefully sniffed and looked for the presence of any danger in the dim alley. Finding none, he began his task of darting from one trash can to another searching for any scrap of food that would aid in sustaining him.
Splinter had not always lived the way most rats do. He was quite fortunate in the early days of his life; he once had a loving home and a kind master. For a rat, he was already quite the traveler — having been originally from Japan, then later coming to the city of New York.
Nibbling on a crumb scoured from the trash, Splinter sighed wistfully as he thought of his former life and his beloved Master Yoshi. If only he could have done more to help him…if only there was some way he could ease his loneliness and pain… Shaking his small head, the clever rat cleared his mind of his sorrowful thoughts, knowing he could not change the past.
Finishing off the small bit of food, Splinter began searching again through the garbage for something else to satisfy his hunger. Something flashed in his eyesight as the sun's rays illuminated it. Scanning the trash carefully, he discovered a food item still in its wrapper! What a treat — something not partially-eaten by someone else! Carefully examining his rare find, Splinter tried to determine what it was. He opened the plastic wrapper using his teeth and diminutive claws, and once he had it open, he turned the food object over and over in his hands. Some kind of cookie…at least that is what he believed it to be. Yes, it looked like one of the cookies that his Master Yoshi would eat when he ordered food from outside their home. What was it called? Ah yes, a fortune cookie. Splinter recalled his master breaking open the cookie and pulling out a piece of paper that had a fortune on it.
More curious than ever, the rat scuttled back down into the sewers with his fortune cookie. Settling in his comfy burrow, he managed to crack open the cookie. Pulling out the piece of paper nestled inside, Splinter puzzled over the strange markings on it. They were words, but he could not read or decipher any meaning from the slip of paper. (He can't read yet, but he already knows how to do ninjitsu!) With a slight shrug, he decided perhaps one day he would be able to read the fortune, just as his Master Yoshi had once done, and he tucked it away safely in his burrow. Finding that he had not yet satiated his hunger, Splinter returned to the surface to resume his scavenging efforts.
The morning passed by quickly, and it seemed as though another day would pass without a change in Splinter's daily routine. However, everything quickly changed in the early hours of the afternoon.
While sitting atop a pile of trash in the alley, Splinter heard loud shouts and the screeching of tires out in the streets. Always a curious rat, he warily made his way from the alley to look around the corner of the building to see what was causing such a ruckus. Splinter observed as quite an interesting scene unfolded.
A young boy carrying a bowl with four baby turtles stood at the adjacent street corner waiting to cross. Nearby, a blind man began crossing the street just as a truck sped toward him. Another pedestrian on the corner pushed the man out of the way just in time, but the truck still had to abruptly apply its brakes — causing a glowing canister to bounce out of the back of the truck and right down into the sewers. When the pedestrian went to get the blind man out of the path of the truck, he had inadvertently knocked the bowl the young boy was carrying right out of his grasp. The bowl shattered as it hit the ground sending the four petite turtles into the sewers right along with the canister!
Splinter could hardly believe his eyes at the events, but quickly became concerned for the four small creatures that had fallen into the sewers. Returning below ground, he found the little ones crawling around in the strange glowing ooze that had been in the now-broken canister. Taking pity upon them, he decided to gather them up into an empty coffee can he had scavenged a while back and take them back to his burrow. Unfortunately, to rid themselves of the strange goop covering them, the turtles shook a great deal of the ooze onto Splinter in the process, leaving the rat wondering how in the world he would clean his fur of the substance.
Once he had them all settled in his burrow, Splinter soon followed the small turtles into the land of dreams.
Morning arrived once more, as the sound of water dripped slowly into the sewers from the streets above and echoed as it did every morning. Just as the cars zipped by above, accompanied by shouts, horns, and the pounding of feet on the pavement as the city and its inhabitants awoke and began their busy days. Every morning — just the same.
But perhaps this morning was a bit different, for Splinter awoke to a surprise. The four tiny turtles had more than doubled in size during the night! And Splinter had grown larger, too! Thus began a new daily routine for the rat, now accompanied by four young, surprisingly dexterous, turtles.
A few years later, the turtle tots had grown and changed, as had their master. The rat had found them a larger place in the sewers to call home and discovered new things along the way that were results from their encounter with the strange glowing ooze.
One early morning, awaking to the familiar sound of water dripping in the sewers, Splinter rose from bed before his sons awoke from their peaceful slumbers. Making himself a cup of tea, the rat found himself reflecting upon the day not so long ago that his life had changed for the better. A tiny thought regarding that day nagged at the back of his mind…something had happened that day…before the accident bringing the turtles into his life… Ah! The small item he had found scavenging that day — the fortune cookie! Yes, that was it. Splinter wondered if he had brought the slip of paper that was encrypted with his fortune when they had left his burrow.
Returning to his room, the ninja master searched through his few personal items and discovered what he was looking for. The tiny slip of paper, although now frayed and worn, was still intact. Splinter smiled softly, still curious as to what the fortune read, and well, now that he could read, he would find out!
You will experience a drastic change in your outward appearance and lifestyle.
With a chuckle, Splinter sardonically wondered if the fortune would have been more useful to him on the day he had actually found it. Yes, becoming mutated and the father of four could certainly be deemed as a drastic change.