The psychic, collateral damage done by the celebrated gun in the hands of the deranged is inestimable. Twenty-one dead and the wounded. Then all of the children that had to watch. Then the teachers that saw. Then the law enforcement officers that found the bodies. Then the EMTs that transported the children. The parents. The grandparents. The siblings. The Friends. The Aunts. The Uncles. The Cousins. The Neighbors -- a horrible rock has been thrown into beautiful water.
Uvalde is a small town of 15,860 citizens. It is beautiful. It sits, where the West starts in Texas, surrounded by three fantastic rivers. It is a place of towering pecan and live oak trees. Spring brings the bright odors of purple sage and white brush. South of town is a great garden of produce: spinach, cabbage, onion, carrot, melon, watermelon. It is the hometown of John Nance Garner, FDR's Vice President, Dale Evans and Ex-Governor Dolph Brisco. I have eaten many, many meals and laughed a whole lot there.
It will never be the same.
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