DULUTH - If you saw the "Lost: Tortoise" ad in the classifieds this week you might have had the same question we did.
How the heck do you lose a tortoise?
Well, Stacy Ceryes can tell you, because she did it about three weeks ago. And here's most of the explanation in one quick fact:
"I'm a day-care mom, so I have 10 little kids here during the daytime with me," she said. All right then.
She also has her own kids, including 10-year-old Kayla, who was at school that day and left her tortoise, Mo, in her mother's care. It was a nice day, so Stacy and the day-care kids took Mo out for some fresh air.
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Then they went in for lunch. About a half-hour later, Stacy looked at the kids and said, "Oh, my God, you guys, we left the tortoise outside."
Ten kids ran outside, some hollering "Mo! Mo!" (no, Stacy said, Mo doesn't come when called), some looking under bushes, all crying hysterically.
They looked and looked, but Mo must have made the 100-or-so-foot dash to the woods. Gone.
About two weeks later, one of the kids' mothers saw someone pull over nearby to check out a turtle crossing the road. Was it Mo? Stacy hopes so, and she's hoping that person recognized it as a pet tortoise and maybe took it home.
If you picked up a tortoise last week on Orange Street about a block east of Arlington, that might be Mo. Call Stacy at (218) 727-3574.
