Sillenger, AK--The deadly tornadoes that ripped through this secluded community, and much of the southeast last week, left a path of unimaginable destruction. The vicious storms also sparked widespread fires leaving hundreds homeless. Because Sillenger has been lucky enough to dodge the path of category-rated tornadoes for the last 25 years the town's preparedness was, in essence, null. This became apparent when the U.S. Tornado Investigation Authority (USTIA) discovered that Sillenger's twister sirens, fixed high atop the town's unstable water tower, have not been sounding for wind-manufactured twisters, but have been sounding for Milton Bradley-manufactured Twisters (not the baseball player). "The town was very flexible during the investigation," said a USTIA official. After years of tornado-less tornado seasons, Sillenger's populace elected to use the alarm system to signal game time. The game of choice for this close-knit borough of 879 is Twister--the colored-dot-mat-contortion game. "The sirens were sitting there rusting away and so we used them to alert everyone that it was time to play Twister," said Sillenger's mayor, Betsy Rumbard. "People played at home or in the community center and it brought us all closer together." When the alarm sounded last Friday, instead running from the twister citizens ran toward the Twister ... with deadly results.
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