53The Drop on the Circle

The traffic circle is Waco's most stubborn landmark — spinning where the old highways crossed since before the interstate was a rumor, ringed by institutions: Health Camp flipping burgers since 1949, the old Elite Café reborn as Magnolia Table, Trujillo's holding down the Tex-Mex corner. And now, on the lawn of the circle's newest neighbor, its shiniest resident: a teardrop of mirror-polished stainless steel two stories tall, attended by a scatter of green and gold spheres, like a giant crossing to campus dropped a pocketful of marbles in Baylor colors.

We can't find a title or a maker on record — if you know who built it, tell us and we'll credit them properly. What we can tell you is what it does: the polished face holds the entire circle at once — the traffic, the sky, Health Camp's sign bending over your shoulder, and you. It is the only artwork on this trail that already has your picture in it before you take one. Every truck that laps the circle repaints it. It has never looked the same twice, and it never will.