Story 12 – Part 3 – Past Midnight and Into Morning

“That’s pretty much what happened,” Carmine said.

Tech was out for the current round, and so he was listening in on his mother’s conversation with Uncle Car. He had not meant to pry, but when he had gotten up to get a drink of water he had heard them talking about Don’s father. Tech had known that his uncle’s real first name was Donatello, but he had never put the two together before. It was kind of cool. He wished he could tell Don but, judging by the way his uncle was trying to play down the event, it was something he should not do. He still planned on asking his uncle about it later.

With a yawn, Tech glanced at the clock and did a double take. It was almost one in the morning. He scratched his head ad he tried to see if maybe he was mistaken. He could not decide which was more embarrassing: the fact that they had been playing for that long, or that they had not finished the game. Of course, they did take a three hour break around dinner time.

“Let’s see,” Vire said. “You were eight?”

“Nine,” Uncle Car corrected.

“Nine? Isn’t that when your mother…oh,” Tech’s mother paused for a few moments. “Sorry.”

“No big deal.”

Tech was not sure what just happened, but he flopped onto the couch next to Jordan who was doing really well for a one-handed man. Boomer and Don were some of the best players, after Tech, and Mr. Owens was not too bad either. Of all the players, Uncle Carmine was probably one of the worst. He even got creamed by Tasha Faber the one time she had played.

“Oh, bugger,” Boomer cried out as his character had a rather uncool death. “Don, it’s all up to you, man.”

“Sure,” Don grumbled as he mashed the buttons. “Why’d you guys have to abandon me right before the boss? Especially you being killed by a freakin’ badger.”

“That was not my fault,” Boomer protested. “It came out of no where.”

“It was still a badger,” Jordan pointed out.

“Oh, shut up.”

--At least he didn’t jump off a cliff,-- Tech added.

“That’s not fair,” Jordan said. “I hit the wrong button.”

“And you boys better not hit the snooze button in the morning,” Tech’s mother called out as she left the lobby.

“We won’t,” Jordan said as his eyes never left the screen.

They did. Tech kept yawning as he tried to comprehending being up at seven when he did not have to be. Don was more of a morning person and woke up fairly quickly. Jordan seemed pretty alert as well. In fact, the only person who did not seem to be awake was Tech. It was a little annoying to have your mind five sentences behind in the conversation.

“All right,” Jordan said as he checked the time. “Who’s ready to get in the plaid wonder car?”

--Why can’t I take my car?-- Tech signed with a yawn.

“You mean aside from the fact that it’s missing half of its parts?” his mother asked.

--Oh, yeah.--

“You need to wake up,” Vire said as she ruffled her son’s hair.

“Yep,” Jordan agreed. “It’s going to be an adventure out there.”

At first, Tech did not catch what Jordan was saying. Of course doing military obstacle course was going to be rough. Then Tech remembered what exactly Jordan had planned. As everyone started heading to the parking garage, Tech ran upstairs to find his camera. It took a while because Tech was planning on not messing up this day. Quickly he checked batteries and memory space. This entire adventure was now going to be forever recorded as either a video or a picture, depending on what exactly was happening.

“I’ll take that,” Carmine said as Tech hurried down to the garage.

--You’re coming?-- Tech signed

“I was planning on it before I needed crutches,” Carmine said. “Now I’m just the photographer.”