You’d expect the daily to go heavy on the fertilizer plant explosion in West, not far up the interstate from the rancho, and they have. Indeed, they even mention the famous Czech kolaches sold there. Famous because so many people buy them, often when enroute to Austin from North Texas.
Mr. B.’s grandmother usually brings us a box when she visits, having stopped in West for a snack on her way down from Fort Worth.
We never thought of West as a location for a disaster of such proportions, with estimates of “around 35” people killed and several times that number injured. Estimates because some homes and buildings were leveled, including a small apartment block across from the plant whose rubble still is being searched.
If we’d known there was a fertilizer plant in West we might have thought differently. Grain elevators can be volatile enough. Fertilizer, of course, was the chief component of McVeigh’s Oklahoma City bomb. Even country icon Willie Nelson is doing a benefit concert this weekend for West. He came up as a boy near there.
As for me and Mrs. Charm, we’re a little numb from all the recent tragedies, in Massachusetts and now closer to home. We’re just glad nothing on those scales has happened here. So we’re selfishly talking about pasteries and hoping grandma will still be able to stop off in West and bring us a box when she visits.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 