Like most people I prefer my sources named. Anonymous? What’s your real name? So I particularly appreciate “Marty” (“78”) of Avon Street, because Marty is not afraid to sign his prophesies. Like right in front of the house now owned by my friend John Michael, where he scratched into the cement “Jesus is coming Marty.” (When I see Jesus coming – perhaps to answer the door at John Michael’s – I can say Marty told me so.) And a couple of doors down: “We live in the end of days Marty.”

Another sidewalk signer may have been Room Eight, the famous cat who once lived at Elysian Heights Elementary (around the corner from Marty’s prophesies). This was in the 1960s. About a week ago, I was at the home of some neighbors. One of them, an eight-year-old, wanted to show me Room Eight’s signature: a crisp little paw print in the cement along the side of the house. I asked how she knew it was Room Eight’s. She said because Room Eight visited all the neighbors. And, true, we were near the school.

In fact, many of the sidewalk squares at the school are devoted to Room Eight. Dozens of testimonials to Room Eight are scratched into the cement as well as sketches of the tabby cat.

An Amazon reviewer named T. Hanson of Nashville wrote this about a book about Room Eight, which was published four decades ago:

I didn't attend Elysian Heights until a few years after Room 8 had passed, but he was still a very important part of our school. Every year or so the school would have more books printed and sell them as one of the fundraisers. My parents bought me one of the books and it was one of my favorites. As I became a teenager my interest in childish things waned and I don't know what happened to my copy. A few years back I was desperately searching for an old copy to buy so I could read the story to my daughter. A friend found one and gave it to me for Christmas. My daughter loves this story more than I think I did when I was her age. This book is just about Room 8, and Room 8 started it all, but I have to tell you about how great the school was after Room 8. It is amazing how one cat can change everything.

Room Eight, your legend lives on.