So the other night a tornado touched down in Seagoville. The news warned that it was heading to Forney. Channel 8’s Pete Delkus helpfully advised that if you had children in Forney to put their bicycle helmets on. We were at the dinner table eating salmon and steamed broccoli and couldn’t be bothered with such trivialities. We sat, ate and watched the rain with a window open to let out smoke from a burning piece of fish in the broiler.Then it got darker and darker…and there it was.
About 300 yards east of us…past the goat farm…in direct sight of our dining room window, full rotation of a tornado in the sky. Hooks and fingers of clouds swirling with malign intent like a witch’s hand over her cauldron.
Kim said “Is that a tornado?” I said “I think it is.” But I spoke with great uncertainty because there were no sirens blaring as usual in such events in Forney. I didn’t know then that they were malfunctioning (I bet the football scoreboard works great!) and would remain silent.
Kim asked if we should take cover. I had already cleared out our one and only interior closet ready to dive in. The cats were closed up in the study. But the lack of sirens and wind convinced us to finish the wonderful salmon. It was eerily calm and I figured we could shelter within seconds if things started getting crazy.
So the three of us ate in silence and followed the stirring whirlpool in the clouds that minutes earlier had destroyed a Seagoville man’s classic red ‘vette. It moved left to right heading slowly north and soon the sun peeked through the trailing clouds.
Meanwhile the vast and ancient gulf between urbanity and rurality reared it’s ugly head as another tornado hit Dallas proper. All news outlets immediately and swiftly forgot about Kaufman County. Kicked to the curb we were! Not a mention of points east for over 30 minutes despite the still threatening tornado in the clouds over downtown Forney. It was an apalling lack of concern about our welfare. It was if we had been erased from existence. Surely they could have utilized split screens or something.
But as the tornado headed north toward Rockwall it also passed over the small hamlet of Heath…ironic since the word heathen comes from heath. Heathen…a term which ancient town dwellers used to prejoratively label those outside the town’s influence and who lived on the heath ground cover. These ”outsiders” were viewed as barbaric, Godless and uncivilized.
I guess that’s how “civilized” Dallas feels about us heathen eastsiders in the year C.E. 2010. Ah, us heathens are accustomed to the prejudice of our fickle neighbors to the west.
