CAT Tracks for September 12, 2016 CAIRO PUBLIC SCHOOLS CLOSED MONDAY

Doo Dee Doo Dee Doo Dee Doo Dee...

...welcome to the Twilight Zone.

I missed my Sunday afternoon nap.

Then, I finished my latest DVD series at 7 p.m.

What's a retired CAT to do...

...why, go to bed!

Yes, that's early even for me...

...but when one roams the alleyways in the wee hours, well, one must sleep when one can.

Lo and behold...

...I awakened at 1:45 a.m. to a loyal reader's e-mail that the water pressure in Cairo was low...

...and that school had been canceled.

Well, hell, as any self-respecting editor (albeit of "the rag") I needed a second source for confirmation, proof, before going with the story.

My first impulse was to go for tangible proof...

...I sprang from my bed, well...and hobbled to the nearest faucet and turned on the water.

The pressure seemed normal to me, but what do I know? Since it had not been used since 7 p.m., maybe the pressure in my water pipes was still good...like how you still have a bit of water in your garden hose even after you turn off the source.

Okay...

...off to the Internet!

Nothing.

The Channel 3, 6, and 12 websites said nothing about water problems in Cairo, much less anything about Cairo Public Schools being closed on Monday.

So...

...am I dreaming?

I sent an e-mail to my news source that, no offense, I'm going to wait until somebody "pinches me" before posting anything.

Trust, but verify!

In the meantime, I went to work on searching for CAT Tracks material...

...finding the silly education-bashing article in The New York Times.

Just as I hit the send button, my phone rang!

What the hell??? It's 2:37 a.m.!!!

What self-respecting telemarketer is going to do their shill thing at this hour of the morning?!

Well, I never answer my landline anymore (because of said pests), but this morning I made an exception, intending to punch whatever button, get a live human to talk to, and give them a piece of my mind...

...not that it ever does any good.

So, I hit the talk button and...

...well, I got "pinched"!!!

No offer of help with my high-interest credit cards, no politician seeking my support, no...

...it was a recording from the Illinois-American Water Company, notifying me that the Cairo district had experienced a drop in water pressure and was therefore under a BOIL WATER ORDER for the next 36 hours...to bring any water to a roiling boil for 5 minutes before using. (Ha! Speaking of doo dee, doo dee, doo dee...I bought a case of bottled water just yesterday, something I rarely doo. :-)

So, now that I have my second source for this breaking story, as Editor in Chief of CAT Tracks, I boldly announce:

There will be no school tomorrow in Cairo School District Number One!

Hey, now you have plenty of time to digest that article I posted from The New York Times Magazine! (Talk about doo dee, doo dee...)

Oh, and enjoy your "Saturday"!!!

POSTSCRIPT:

There is another reason that I thought that I must be dreaming and held back on publishing the "no school" story.

When I went searching for Internet confirmation, I ran across this headline: