TMNT are the property of Mirage. However, I am raising funds for a hostile take-over. Anyone interested?

"The Gift of the Magi-angelo" Part Two

Mike had many toys and comics ("Too many," Sensei would say on those days when he would come into his son's room). Countless hours of scrounging, of scrimping, saving, cajoling, trading, and other activities that were not known to his family had resulted in this vast collection of items.

Each was precious to him; each held a story on its acquisition.

"My Sgt. Guts 'n Glory action figure with remote control tank," he sighed. "I remember when I first saw this in the toy store window... remember, Klunk? That's the day I found you! But I took it out of the box, so I doubt it'd be worth much. People like stuff mint on card you know."

Klunk, curled on Mike's pillow, politely meowed in response.

His eyes roved over more of his toys. Some he had kept sealed as he had become more and more aware of the monetary possibilities of collecting. Thanks to ebay™ he'd sold a few things over the years in order to buy other items...

But would he be able to sell anything and get the money before Christmas? That was the trouble; the Internet was fast, but this close to Christmas, would it be fast enough?

"I'm gonna have to do this with April's help," he finally sighed. "And that means she'll find out how much I need. And knowing her, she'll try to buy it herself, then give it back to me as a gift- and I don't want that!"

Yet the more he looked at his items, the more he knew that there was nothing on the bed that could possibly, on its own, get him the amount he needed to make two hundred dollars before Christmas. Indeed, unless he put up all the items, there was no chance he'd get enough money.

And there was no guarantee that all items would sell.

"This is hopeless!" he sighed, trying not to give himself up to defeat but failing. "I've got nothing worth that kind of money..."

Oh, yes you have, his inner voice whispered. You do have something that is worth that kind of money; your most prized possession of all.

"Klunk is my most prized possession of all," he answered his inner voice. "And my next most prized possession are my 'chukkies! And I can't sell my 'chukkies! Selling those would be illegal here."

Not Klunk, and not our babies! Stop pretending you don't know what I mean!

Mike blinked, gazing around as if it would come to him with a shining sign...

Surely not his...

NOT his...

True, he had put out his bestest comics on the bed- but searching through them again, he realized that hehad held back one; he had consciously held back one very special precious comic.

One "incredible" comic.

Slowly his feet dragged the rest of him across the room to his special place in his closet, where "The Comic" resided in a sort of shrine, encased in not one but TWO polyethylene sheathes, each 3 mm thick, with a backer board slightly oversized to keep it from bending at the corners or creasing the spine or allowing the cover to roll; kept out of the light and moisture and temperature extremes; protected from smoke (Leo still could not understand why Mike refused candles or incense to be used in his room)- so precious that, on those RARE occasions when he wanted to look at it, he would insist on carrying it to April's where she had a fairly secure guest room in which he felt safe enough to take it out of its protective covering (and all the while wearing special cotton gloves that he'd had made specially for just such occasions- to protect from finger marks).

The Comic.

"My- my-" he whispered.

...precious? C'mon, Gollum, it's just a comic book!

"JUST a COMIC Book?" Mike spoke aloud, disbelief at the attitude of his inner voice. "JUST a COMIC Book? THIS is 'The Incredible Hulk', Issue #181- the first appearance of WOLVERINE!"

Like I said, a comic book.

"The FIRST FREAKING APPEARANCE of WOLVERINE!"

It's worth a few dollars then.

"Wol. Ver. Ine."

So... what you're saying is, you have some sort of emotional attachment to this?

"Attachment? It's my heart! My soul! My- My-"

... precious?

Mike, with reverent hands, carried his most sacred comic to his desk, and carefully placed it on the quickly cleaned surface.

"It's in Very Fine condition," he nearly whimpered. "It still has the Marvel Value Stamp! You'd almost swear it was just printed recently..."

And Mike gave himself up to misery.

He'd had it for quite some time. Ever since that day he'd helped April carry in a bunch of items she'd bought at an estate sale... including...

"Lot seventeen: This steamer trunk: 1900s, brass handles, locked, keys unknown. Full of something heavy. It and two dressers, a lamp, and four boxes of miscellanea. Let's start the bidding at ten dollars"...

"Man, what the heck is in this thing, bricks?" Mike grunted, dropping rather than setting the trunk down.

"Careful! I'm hoping it's full of gold and jewels and lots of other valuable things," April, getting out her tools, replied with a grin. "But I'm guessing it's books, along with clothes. Anyway, there's hopefully something in there that can bring me a profit."

"If it's another four-armed statue," Mike teased as April set to work on opening the trunk, "ask for more than two dollars this time."

"I still don't believe that story, Mike."

The turtle shrugged.

"Leo's the one who told you about it, and you know Leo doesn't lie."

"Yeah, well Leo is also known to like a good joke as well as the rest of you," she responded, trying carefully to pop the lock on this battered trunk. Too bad the key was missing. Still, if she could manage it, she could replace the lock, polish it up and sell it for a nice price.

There was the satisfying "click" of success, and she got the steamer opened to reveal...

"Comics. MORE comics. Great." She thought of the bin she already had of comics that even Mike had no use for. Still, when one is in this business, one must not give up. "Hey, Mike! I'm going to go through these for OLD ones, but you want the rest?"

Mikey, sorting through one of the four boxes of miscellanea to help her out, glanced over his shoulder.

"Sure," he called. "Hey, if you find a first edition of 'Superman', my birthday's comin' up."

"Riiiight..."

Twenty minutes later, she was handing Mike a stack of comics, circa 1970s... he started sorting through a bunch of Marvel comics... smiling at the well-preserved ones, frowning at the damage done by some careless kid on a few others... counting the duplicates...

And there it was.

Mike felt his head get all funny. Carefully, he rubbed his eyes, and looked again.

"No... way..."

Quickly he glanced at April, who was organizing the old ones she'd collected (and sighing at the scarcity of anything really good), then back to this well-protected, valued by true collectors gem of a comic!

He'd seen a few offered for sale via ebay... the really good ones went for hundreds!

He carefully removed it from the sturdy bag... surely it must be a reprint... surely he was imaging it's worth...

Surely he was lying to himself! THIS was the REAL DEAL!

And April had given it to him...

Mike swallowed. Hard. Several times. Then he cleared his throat.

"Hey, Ape," he called, trying to sound cheerful. "You just handed me a comic that is worth more than what you spent today. A whole lot more!"

April looked up, disbelieving.

"No, those are just a bunch from the 70s," she said. "Nothing really special. I've got a bunch like those that never sell."

"No, you definitely do not have something like this," he sighed, and kneeling down beside her, he told her exactly what she had- and what it could be worth.

And all the time, he wanted to hug it to his plastron and run for his life!

But he couldn't do that- this was April! His bestest sister in the world!

Still...

"No! Seriously? No- I can't believe it!" she said, smiling all over, thinking of the huge profit. "Can you imagine? I've always heard of things like this happening, but it's never happened to me!"

She chattered on more in this vein for a few more minutes, amazed at her luck.

And then she got a look at Mike's face. Mike was gazing at the cover through its plastic protection, running a very gentle finger ever so lightly over the image of Wolverine, not exactly drooling, but definitely not paying attention to what she was saying.

And she smiled.

"Nope. I gave it to you, Mike. It's yours to keep."

Mike blinked, eyes lighting up with such joy that it brought a lump to April's throat.

He, however, could not keep this. His honor forbid it! He insisted that she keep it; sell it! Make mucho dinero!

But April was adamant, even at the end of a ten minute "you keep it, no YOU keep it!" session.

"No," she said firmly and with finality. "You want it- I can tell just by looking at you- and NOT to sell, I can tell that as well," she added, gazing at him with a critical eye.

"But you could make a small fortune!"

April shrugged.

"Michelangelo, I gave it to you. I could have looked more carefully, but I doubt that I would have caught it anyway. If it wasn't for you I might have sold it for a dollar! Can you imagine? And besides, it'd just go to some geek who would lock it away and worship it- until he could get a really high price for it. Nope- YOU keep it! And that is final!"

"She gave it to me- SHE could have sold it, but she knew I wanted it; knew how special it is to ME!"

It will bring the money you need.

"But... Wolverine... snikt... Bub... first appearance..."

But... Splinter... quilt... Christmas... one week away...

"I- I just don't know..."

Cut the cord, Mike. Remember: your brothers are betting AGAINST you! But more importantly, This is for Splinter.

"I- I gotta think-"

And he put the comic back in its place of honor, grabbed his chukkies, and headed to of all places the dojo.

Thirty minutes and an intensive workout later, Mike hit the shower, then headed into his room, carefully placed his comic in a sturdy bag, and headed out for Casey's.

(To be continued)