14I stuck- I mean, I left Leo to Splinter, and took Don for myself. Thanks for the kind reviews! Once again, this is a Splinter/Cynlee joint venture. The TMNT belong to neither of us, sad to say...
Science Report- Everything
Science Report on Why I Don't Have One
By Hamato Donatello
As you can tell from the title, I do not have a report on any particular member of the animal kingdom. This is because I have pretty much done all of it, and have nothing more to write about.
You have to admit, my first report on the fossil record was pretty good. I remember how surprised you was when I was able to spell "choanoflagellates" without looking just to prove I was not copying the book you had loaned me. And I made those models from that cool clay you found that time- you know, the models of the first fossils that represented animals from around the Precambrian era, what was they called? Oh, yeah! The "Ediacaran" or "Vendian biota"! Yes! I remembered!
Anyway, I'm not sure what is left to report about. I've pretty much covered the "Bilateria", though I suppose I could try to do something along the lines of explaining their digestive system again, only make it more interesting- yes! I could use Mikey as a "live" example, and I could draw on his plastron a representation of the "coelom" (you know, the internal body cavity), and he definitely has a mouth and an anus!
Oh, I wouldn't let him do anything gross! Though thinking about Mikey, maybe using him would be a bad idea, I remember how he tried to help me with my science project the last time...
And it's kind of hard to do anything more extensive on the "Eumetazoan phyla", unless you could sneak me into the library some night and I could borrow some books. All I know about them is what I wrote about last time, and I have to admit, learning that they only have one opening in their digestive system that serves as both their mouth and their anus sort of put me off studying them.
I thought about doing more with the "Chordata", especially the Reptiles. After all, there are twenty-three species of "Crocodilia", and about three hundred of the "Testudines" (hurray for US!), while the "Squamata" claim to have about seven thousand six hundred species, but I think they're exaggerating. I like the sound of "Rhynchocephalia", but there are only two speices. Funny, that! It has the biggest name and the least members... maybe THAT could be my report, on how the scientific names are not in proportion to the actual number of species!
Anyway, I am sorry, Sensei, but with our limited number of research materials available, I am not able to write a science report this time. As you can tell, I've pretty much done it all.
Splinter looked at Donatello for several minutes in silence. The child was very confident; he gave him that.
"All I asked for was a report on hamsters," Splinter finally said.
Donatello's face fell.
"But... that was so BORING!" he almost whined. "I wanted to do more. All I know is that it's a rodent and belongs to the Cricetinae subfamily, which has about eighteen species that are classified in six or seven genera. 'Sides, hamster are creepy," he added as an aside, looking at his feet.
Splinter put the report in his desk and handed his son a sticker. Donatello's face lit up.
"So, you're gonna give me credit for what I wrote?"
"No, for what you just now reported," Splinter responded. "But only this time. The next time I will not be so understanding."
Donatello, forgetting for the moment that they were there in the Sensei/Student mode, hugged his father gleefully, then ran to post his sticker on the chart.
Splinter, taking the "non-report" from the desk, read it again, and rubbed the dull ache that was growing between his brows, then shook his head.
"I know one thing; his next report is going to be a long one on the value of humility.