Since I have lived in the Texoma region, I have made many trips to Denison. One thing I knew that really stuck out in my mind was the giant abandoned building in the center of town which was the old Denison High School. I remember driving by it several times wondering why they would keep it in such a state of disrepair. But then came the time that the city decided it was time to tear it down. The citizens of Denison gathered together to protect the eyesore. They didn't want to tear it down, but no one was willing to try to fix it up either. The city tried to sell it, but no one wanted it. The day finally came and demolition started. People gathered in candlelight vigils mourning the loss of their biggest rat nest. In the almost 10 years I have been in this region, this building has always had a fence around it, windows broken out, and the building was falling apart. If people really cared, why didn't they try to take care of it? That was always my question. People showed up from all around the world mourning the building as it slowly was torn down. And still I asked myself, why? What is history if you don't preserve it? They had a committee wanting to preserve, but none wanting to donate the time or the money it would need to do something with the building. So, they stood and cried.
But in this hodge podge of feelings and news stories, something slipped by unnoticed. And now just a few months later, I have realized something more sinister has befallen us. You see the day the last person mourning left from the old high school site and returned to her hometown in Missouri, Texas died. I have watched the news, and it has confirmed my theory. There is no longer life in Texas. We are just "wanting wishes" traveling in space thinking we are actually still in a state which exists. Since the loss of the Denison High School, KXII Channel 12, which is located in the mythological place of Sherman, TX, completely stopped reporting on Texas. This was something I tried to bring to their knowledge, but the only response I got was that the people in Oklahoma were complaining that they reported too much on Texas. I spent two weeks and broke down in a chart all of the stories of the news station. I sent the station the chart, showing how almost every story they reported in a two week time period was dedicated to Oklahoma. Again, they didn't care. I thought it was just indifference, but it was only the start.
A few weeks later, I received a copy of the Sherman Herald Democrat. This is the fictious newspaper of this make believe town. As I went through the paper, I found that there was not one single story about Sherman. Even in local news, there were only stories of accidents in Dallas, and the sports page only reported on high school basketball in Oklahoma.
Yesterday, I was watching the news on Channel 12. Come to find out, there were two fires in the Oklahoma area. At my house, it was hard to breathe. For hours we were engulfed in a smoke cloud. Fires were breaking out all over the place, being driven by the 50 mph winds which tormented us. As I listened to the official stations all around us, fire departments were being sent everywhere. Stations from Collin, Cooke, Grayson and Denton counties were all around fighting fires in Sherman, Whitesboro, Whitewright, Tioga, Collinsville, Southmayd, and Gainesville. Grayson County Sheriff's Office was out investigating smoke reports. But like I said, the only fires on the news were in Oklahoma.
So, it became official. Life in Texas has died. With all the high winds and fires, it can only mean that we are living in hell. And the only thing which supported life in Texas was the Old Denison High School.
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