So April’s Fools Day is supposed to be April 1. That didn’t turn out to be the case for me. Albeit it wasn’t technically a joke, I was definitely made the fool at work today.
As the sole reporter for a small weekly publication, well being a reporter for any newspaper isn’t always all that predictable because of accidents, fire, etc., but being the only one can mean that life is interesting. I like that though because it’s meant being fully engaged in the community in which I live and I have a deeper connection to it than any place I’ve lived previously.
Anyway, things were as they should be at the office, pretty quiet, not much going on but right after the office assistant left to grab lunch a call came in from a fellow reporter up river about a semi-truck on fire on the I-40. Well naturally, that’s a story to follow up on and get some photos, etc. I drove to the first two locations I thought it would be but it was a no go. I called my friend at her office to double check where she heard the call come in from and I had been right where she said it should be but nothing.
I ended up driving five miles out of town eastbound, back through town and then nine miles out of town westbound but nothing. Not one emergency vehicle, siren, smoke, nothing. I called my friend a second time and we thought perhaps the direction was more of a starting point so then I tried a different highway heading south out of town but again, nothing. I haven’t slept much the last two nights but I felt confident that no amount of exhaustion could have me driving around as much as I was and somehow miss what should be really easy to see.
Finally, I come back to the office and called the local fire department. The captain there informed me that they too got the call but turns out someone was probably just burning some trash. There wasn’t ever a semi on fire. Seriously? I was relieved to find I wasn’t crazy but I drove all over looking for a nonexistent semi-truck fire on the highway. In some ways, I was glad to hear it wasn’t a joke because if I wasted that much gas for a joke, I’d be pretty angry.
To make matters worse, while I was out trying to find this darn thing, the office assistant forgot her keys in the office. She returned with lunch to find me gone and not able to get in the office. Doh! I ended up stopping at the office mid-search, let her in and get the number for my friend up river, which is really the only reason we could communicate during this minor fiasco.
It’s not the worst “doh” moment I’ve ever had, sadly enough, but it certainly was horribly inconvenient. Darn mind trick! I suppose even work will make us do some pretty foolish things at times.
stormy musings 