“Did you lose again?” Vire asked Carmine after he tossed the controller at Tech.
“Are you really surprised?” Carmine countered back.
“Do you want to play, Ms. Morgan?” Don asked.
“Oh, no thank you,” Vire answered. “You can keep playing.”
“Well, I’m out for this round anyway,” Don shrugged.
“You boys have been playing for several hours,” Vire sighed. “Don’t you think it’s time you all took a break?”
“Are you kidding?”
“Besides,” Boomer said, “we’re rocking co-op mode. If we were actually playing online, we’d so rule everything.”
“Not to mention I’m the only one who’s managed to get past that pit jumping thing,” Nero added.
“I don’t think we’ll get through to them until they realize they’re hungry,” Tasha said.
“Have you been having a ladies’ party while us guys have been gaming?” Carmine asked.
“Did the princess dresses that Izzy and Lisa are wearing give it away?” Tasha asked.
“No,” Carmine teased. “It was the crown you’re wearing.”
“That’s cause I’m queen.”
Vire laughed as Izzy was trying to show Lisa how to curtsey. As a one year old, Lisa followed it pretty well, though she ended up falling down several times and giggling. When Tasha had discovered the video game party, she had brought her little girls down. It looked like it was going to be an all night gaming party, and Vire was glad that it was the weekend.
Tomorrow they were going to go to the military base’s obstacle course. Don had gotten permission to come along and so he was going to spend the night. Vire sighed to herself. If the boys wanted to be dead tired at the obstacle course tomorrow, then they could be. She would just embarrass them all by showing them up.
“So, Don,” Wilanna said as she brought in some more random snacks. “Is your name short for Donald?”
“You are awesome Mrs. O,” Don said as he grabbed some chips. “And no, it isn’t. It’s actually short for Donatello.”
“Is that a family name?” Wilanna asked.
“Actually, I don’t think so,” Don paused as he though about it. “My dad says he named me after someone who saved his life when he was in another country for work.”
“That’s fascinating. What happened?”
“There was a drive-by shooting and my dad had gotten hit,” Don explained. “A kid who was around ten, my dad thinks, was actually smart enough to help stop the bleeding. My dad says he thinks it saved his life. All he knew was that the kid went by Donny, but he never got a chance to thank him. So, when I was born a few months later, my dad decided to name me after the, as he calls it, mysterious angel that saved his life.”
“That’s a wonderful story,” Wilanna said.
Vire raised an eyebrow and looked over at Carmine. He looked a little sheepish and gave her a slight nod. She was not completely surprised to hear about that, it seemed that Carmine had a record for his connections. Vire knew the theory of the six degrees of connections, but she figured they all included Carmine some how.
--Don’t tell,-- Carmine signed while Don was not looking.
--Why?-- Vire asked.
--Not a big deal,-- Carmine explained. --Don't want the attention, or expectation.--
That made sense to Vire. Though she disagreed with it not being a big deal, she knew Carmine really did not like being the center of attention. It was a little funny, since not only could he handle it, but he was very popular in high school from what she heard. Vire definitely planned on getting the full story from Carmine. Chances are that Don’s father had only selective memory as to what had happened.
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