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Some TMNT stuff really isn't for little kids. |
Major characters[]
- Donatello
- Leonardo
- Michelangelo
- Raphael
- Splinter
- Illiterate Man
Synopsis[]
The Turtles are practicing their skills by trying to find Splinter in Central Park before he finds them. They hear groaning from a park bench and happen upon a young man, who they discover has been drinking. They leave him and continue their search. The man, having awakened, decides that drinking some more will help him. While he's drinking, Splinter says that he'll never understand why people need alcohol. The man goes to offer him the bottle and then realizes he's talking to a giant rat.
Splinter tells the young man that he is real and asks for the man's story. The man tells him the he can't read; that he went to school for eleven years and never learned to read, so he can't get a job. He concludes that he's stupid. Splinter explains that he is fighting a war with himself and that he can beat his own doubts if he applies himself. He tells the man of the different groups that can help him learn to read and to get his GED.
Splinter then vanishes into the trees. He finds his sons talking about quitting the hunt for him and tells them they give up too easily - which dishonors both themselves and him as their teacher. The Turtles promise to try again and resume their search. The young man likewise decides he can't go on the way he's been and gets up to find a way to better himself.
See also[]
Trivia[]
- Shell Shock was published to help raise money to help literacy programs. This is the only story which directly addresses the topic.