“Excuse me.”

Alan looked up from his computer screen. “How can I help you?”

“I don’t know how to say this…” the woman trailed off.

“Take your time.” Alan smiled in what he hoped was a nonthreatening manner. “Do you need help on a research project?”

The woman laughed and shook her head. “No, there’s a turtle walking by the window over there.” She pointed across the library’s lobby to the back wall of windows.

“A turtle?” Alan frowned. “As in the reptile?”

She nodded her head.

“Right.” Alan looked around the desk and picked up the first box he found, turning down the flaps. They never mentioned turtles in library school.

He followed the woman over to the windows. As she said, there was a small turtle–a tortoise, actually–walking along as if it didn’t have a care in the world. Alan scooped the small tortoise up and placed it in the box. He thought it would hide in its shell, but it seemed to take in the new surrounds with equal ease as shuffling along the windows.

Alan shook his head and went back to the desk. He switched on the P.A. system and asked, “Has anyone lost a turtle? If so, please come to the desk and describe for return.”

What was he going to do with the turtle if no one came to claim it?