Masked Mayhem

UnMasked Mayhem

One night, after many stories from Splinter and the guys, April finally asked the burning question that had been on her tongue countless times but seemed rude to impose on her four turtle friends. "Why do you guys wear masks at all? Splinter doesn't. And you all have told me at least nine memories tonight that are reason enough to NOT to wear them." Three green fingers pointed to the turtle in the purple mask to issue the explanation, who only genially rolled his eyes and removed his mask.

Reaching out for her hand he watched her face steadily, "May I?" At her nod, he gently lifted her hand to his face and laid it across his closed eyelids. Her heart skipped a beat at the utter trust his act showed and she had to think extra hard when he asked her what was missing. It took a few minutes with all the guys grinning cheekily at her to realize what might possibly be the answer other than 'a nose.' Then she blushed at being so stupid as to forget they were reptilian rather than mammalian.

"No eyelashes! And without a nictating membrane...," she trailed off wondering if her four green friends had just revealed their most dangerous fighting handicap to her. Once again, her heart warmed for the unlimited trust the mutant family showed her. Donatello nodded at her with a soft smile for coming to the correct conclusion, and then quickly tied his mask back on.

"We all have memories as children from before the masks of how we often could not prevent some small piece of dust or debris from falling and getting in our eyes. Worse, our fingers are a bit thick for getting much of it out easily." She looked around and got stern and disgruntled nods of affirmation from his other brothers, as Donatello continued. "Wearing the masks, it's much less likely to occur." She looked at them in soft amazement thinking of how often she retrieved a small piece of irritation while walking to their sewer home without even thinking of the blessing of the act.

A memory tugged at the back of her mind. "Hey, has one of you been helping themselves to my bottles of eyedrops in the bathroom? I accused Casey of stealing several over the last year." She had to stop to laugh hard at the severe look Splinter held at the four who each held aloft a small bottle retrieved from their obi pockets. And all four turtles so alike with each wearing bashful looks for the minor theft. "Oh, it's fine, really, Sensei. I'll even add some to the next grocery list. I'm just glad you guys finally told me." This simple answer was exactly how she always felt when they told her more about themselves. Just glad to know them.