Yahoo! I really made it! I translated the first chapter into English. Armed with a dictionary, I needed more than five hours just for those two pages. And I wrote the German text in one. Puhhh. Hard work, but up to the next one.

I just published two chapters in German and I suppose it will be easier to write the story "new" in English then to translate the German parts. So I´m looking up to chapter three. Thanks again to Cynlee for rereading and correcting and just for the motivation. Thanks as well for the reviews.

And thanks to LEO, not the Turtle, but the Web Database Dictionary. It would have taken even more time to translate the second chapter if I would have to consult every word in a normal dictionary.

The Turtles, Splinter etc. are the property of Mirage, Tally Brown is mine.

Chapter 2: Flotsam and Jetsam

Tally Brown was a slender young woman, not as tall as she would like to be, with long brown hair and blue eyes. She lived in New York, but she had a holiday house at Long Island. She was a doctor with her own office, so she was able to afford the luxury of a second house.

But at the moment she just wanted one thing: a holiday. It was late autumn and pretty cold outside, so she dressed in a warm coat before she went out. The night before had been stormy, but now the weather was calm, though it was raining just a little bit. She didn't care. What she needed was a long, nice walk.

The beach was deserted. After the frantic bustle of the city and the gray weather there, Tally enjoyed the loneliness. She breathed deeply, holding her head back and letting the rain fall on her face. She smiled. This was wonderful.

She walked along the beach and followed the course of the dunes. Here and there pieces of wood and garbage disturbed the peaceful beauty of the scenery. Between a few rocks was a bigger piece of flotsam and jetsam, surely from the storm last night, she thought. She went towards it.

The thing was furry; a dead animal? As she got closer she could see it properly, and she stumbled back in fright.

It was an animal, but one she had never seen before. It looked like a giant rat, but the proportions just weren't right. Besides, she hadn't heard of a rat before which wore a robe. Carefully she nudged it with her foot. It didn´t move. She stretched out her hand and gently touched its throat. She could sense the pulse, but it was very weak. The creature felt cold. Undecided, she bit at her lips. Then she pulled off her coat and wrapped the animal in it.

With some difficulty she carried it to her holiday house. Again she was thankful because of the weather, because she didn´t meet anybody. She wouldn´t have known how to explain this being.

Finally, she arrived and brought her find into the living room. It wasn't too heavy, but its fur was soaked with water and though she was strong, she wasn't that strong. It had tired her out, but she had managed without dropping it. She laid it on the new-- and now for sure ruined – sofa, took a few clean towels from the bathroom and scrutinized the creature.

Her first impression had been right. It really was a giant rat. Carefully she rubbed it dry and felt wounds under the fur. A big lacerated wound on its head, and a few rips, the right arm and the right leg were broken. Probably the storm the previous night had caused it to drift against the rocks. Sighing, she took her doctor's bag and began to care for it wounds. In the end her work had found her. So much for her planned holiday.

After a while she had done as much as she could do. She gave it a few injections against infection. She was sure it had some water in its lungs, but she couldn't do anything about that right now. She took a book and sat down in an armchair near the sofa on which she had laid the creature. The only thing she could do right now was to wait until it awoke.

Was that really the only thing? She was uncertain what to do. Shouldn't she call the police or the animal shelter? But this being didn't look like a normal animal. For just a tiny little moment she thought of something else, but…

"You watch too many sci-fi movies, Tally Brown," she scolded herself. "For sure it's no alien."

But what then? And what to do? She was not so frightened anymore. The creature was seriously hurt and no danger to her. Besides, it didn't seem to be very powerful, though brawny. A breeding object or a genetic experiment? She didn't want any trouble with the government. Best thing would be to call someone or to bring it back where she had found it... but… but… after all, she was a doctor! And this thing was now her patient. So she decided to wait.

A few hours later she looked up from her novel. Her patient moaned in its sleep and sniveled quietly. Tally closed her book and bent forward to this strange animal.

Suddenly it opened its eyes! Startled she shied away from it. With an absolutely impossible speed the creature sprang from the sofa and tried to run away, but its broken leg could not support it and it hit the ground. Backwards and on all four legs it crawled – still remarkably fast- away from Tally and towards a window. It jumped up and tried to bounce through the pane, but recoiled, tumbled on an occasional table and got entangled with the telephone cord.

Involuntary she smiled.

Her surgery was near a bank. After this had been robbed, there had been a exchange of fire between the policemen and the bank robbers. A few bullets had hit her surgery, and so she had had bulletproof glass installed there as well as in her apartment and her summer cottage. Sure, it was a little bit paranoid, but after all, she was New Yorker.

Her strange guest hissed and fought with the cord, trying desperately to break free, but only became more entangled with the cord. Most obviously it was afraid of her.

Tally sat down on the floor and stretched her hand out with caution. The animal had very impressive teeth and she hoped that it wouldn't bite her. Maybe it had rabies, or something else. Carefully she uncoiled the telephone cord. The creature stayed calm and cringed just a few times when she touched the bandages at its right leg. She smiled. Her patient seemed finally to have calm down; at least it breathed considerably more even now. She spoke gently and calmly: "Take it easy, calm down, I don´t want to hurt you, calm down, shhh."

Carefully she stretched her hands further, in reach of its teeth. The creature flinched back with the upper part of its body, but didn't try to bite her. Warily she helped it stand, and half-carried it back to the sofa where she applied new bandages, because its head wound had burst open after it has hit the window.

It seems to understand that I want to help it, she thought, because it kept still as she cared for his injury, and that must definitely hurt.

It stayed calm at the sofa – this time- and looked at her from intelligent brown eyes. Tally smiled again.

"You must be hungry. But what does something like you eat?"

The creature looked into her eyes- and cleared its throat.

"Some hot soup and tea would be very kind, thank you."

"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!" Scared to death Tally flinched and stumbled backwards over to the armchair. She plopped in it and immediately tucked up her legs. With eyes wide open she stared at the "animal".

It sighed. Its voice sounded very weak.

"Please, you do not have to be afraid of me. I am not going to attack you." It grimaced. "Not that I could at the moment. I am very thankful that you have helped me, although" it smiled weakly, "you frightened me pretty much as well."

Tally could only nod. Finally she found her voice again.

"What… who are you?"

"My name is Splinter". He stretched out his left, uninjured hand. Tally approached reluctantly and gripped it in the end.

"Tally Brown". Splinter lowered his head in a bow.

"Again, I want to thank you for your help. But where exactly am I?"

"This is my holiday place on Long Island, New York."

Splinter nodded.

"Then I am not that far from home."

"Do you live in New York?" asked Tally. Splinter nodded.

"I was …" he paused and seemed unsure, "involved in a fight. I fell from a ship. I feared for my life."

"I found you out by the rocks".

"Thank you very much for your help, Miss Brown. I owe you my life. Who knows what would have happened if someone else- or anyone at all- would have found me."

"You can call me Tally", she offered, still a little bit unsure what she should think about this situation- having a speaking rat in her living room. Splinter smiled.

"Thank you".

" May I ask you, what exactly you are, or…"

Splinter waved aside the unspoken question.

"No, it is all right." And he told her his story, but did not mention his sons. This woman had rescued him, but that was no reason to take a risk.

Tally listened eagerly.

"Then you have to thank that Foot Ninja for your unwillingly bath".

Splinter agreed.

Suddenly Tally jumped up. Splinter shied back, startled.

"Sorry. But you wanted something to eat, didn´t you? What kind of soup?"

Splinter's features eased.

"You need not go to any special trouble."

"No, it´s okay. I´m hungry, too." She left the room. Splinter looked after her. He could not explain why, but he felt that he could trust this woman.

Tally stood before the oven, a stock pot in one hand, a package of instant soup in the other, and looked at the phone in the kitchen. She could – and should- call someone, and they would take this creature, no, Splinter, she reminded herself, away.

And then? They would bring him to a lab, or something else. He was a scientific sensation. But…

She sighed and cooked the soup.

Ten minutes later Tally came back with two dishes of soup. Splinter had dozed off on the sofa, but awoke immediately. He was really hungry. Amused, Tally saw the content of Splinter's dish disappear. She went to the kitchen, came back with the stock pot and filled his dish again. Splinter seemed to be abashed.

"Please excuse my table manners, but.."

"It´s okay", she interrupted. "You must be really hungry". Splinter nodded.

When they both had finished their meal, Tally brought the dishes back into the kitchen. As she returned to the living room, she saw that Splinter, sitting upright, had waited for her.

"You should lay down again. You´re still pretty weak".

"I did not tell you the whole truth before. I was not the only one who came in contact with the ooze…"

So Splinter told his story again, but this time he mentioned his sons, April and Casey, and told a few of their adventures. His voice became weaker and croakier and the doctor in Tally was tempted to interrupt him, but she wanted to hear his story. The evening had worn on, as he finally fell silent.

"There are others like you? Why didn´t you tell me that before?"

He didn´t look at her.

"I was unsure if I could trust you."

She smiled.

"And now you are sure?"

"Yes", he answered firmly, "somehow I know that I can trust you."

Tally laughed insecurely.

"Well, I´m flattered". Then she got serious again. "But you should rest now. You are not fine and I don,t like the croakiness of your voice. Sounds as if you have bronchitis or something coming on." She gently pushed him back on the sofa and fetched him a few extra pillows. "Good night. I sleep in the second room on the right side. If you feel worse, you will alert me, okay?"

Splinter nodded. Then he closed his eyes. Obviously he was very exhausted.

Tally left the room silently. She passed the phone.

He had said he trusted her.

She wouldn´t betray him.