Mice on a Plane

It is more than forty years now since airport security checks started because of the proliferation of hijackings. However in the early 1970s in St. John's, Newfoundland, after checking your luggage, all you had to do was show your boarding pass at the gate to access the plane. This was the era when Rick, later to become my husband, was flying between Deer Lake and St. John's, to and from university.

At that time the one way ticket cost $29.50. While that price looks so good to us today, it was costly for a student at that time. Rick took the bus more often than he flew. However, on one of his flights home at the end of a semester, he brought a stowaway with him, a mouse named Sigmund.

Rick knew someone who worked in a lab at university and acquired a pet mouse which he kept in a fish bowl. At the end of the semester, Sigmund had to go home as well. Rick put mouse and bowl into a bag and took it easily on the flight. All was well with Sigmund tucked under the seat in front of him.

However it was a rough landing that trip. The bag tipped over and Rick caught Sigmund just as he exited his hiding place. Can you imagine the screams if he had not been so lucky? I can see the headline now...

St. John's Airport to Institute Security Checks to Prevent Mice on Planes.