Turtle Commotion

After a young girl
And her older sister
Boarded a plane
And took their seats,
A stewardess noticed
A plastic box
With a pet turtle inside
In the young girls lap.
The stewardess told her
To stow it
Under the seat in front
Which she did,
But another stewardess,
On seeing the turtle,
Demanded that the two girls
Exit the plane.
Apparently birds,
Dogs and cats
Are permitted,
But amphibians
Or reptiles are not.
The girls were told
That they had to
Get rid of their pet
If they wanted to fly,
So they called their father
To come back to the airport
And pick up the turtle.
Since no one
Was willing
To look after the turtle
Until the girls father arrived,
The girls were forced
To place their turtle
In a nearby trash can
To avoid further
Delaying the flight.
They were then
Allowed to re-board
And fly to their destination
When the father arrived
Back at the airport
The the turtle was nowhere
To be found,
And the explanation offered
Was that the trash
Had probably been dumped.
What had actually happened
Was that an airport worker
Observing the confrontation
Had rescued the turtle,
And taken it home
For his daughter.
Three days later,
After the confusion unraveled,
The young girl
And her pet turtle
Were reunited,
Compliments of the airline.
The airline's only excuse
Was that turtles
Have been known
To carry the salmonella bacteria,
So the little turtle
Was considered
A serious security violation.
They failed to mention
How they got the turtle
To her, however,
Or what happened to
The airport worker
Who “rescued” the turtle.
I wonder if it was
The airport security cameras
That implicated the worker.
I can only imagine
How infuriated the father
Must have been
When he had to return home
Empty handed.
In a world run by rigid rules
And regulations,
Little things often become
Major issues,
Especially in the absence of
Common sense.
In retrospect, none of
The turtle commotion
Was at all necessary.
I wonder if the stewardess
Who raised the issue
Was rewarded
For her diligence
Or reprimanded
For her steadfast rigidity.
Another possible way
To look at this incident
Is to wonder about
How newsworthy
The day must have been
For this to have made
The national news.