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There's only one way to the restaurant
By Monique Oaks, Looking Up
It started as a return to the Big Top, that "World's Most Enormous Mall" known as Town East in Mesquite. (My husband named it the WMEM while we were living in DeSoto.)
I was meeting two colleagues at the Buca di Beppo there to begin an immersion process. The three of us are responsible for writing news and feature stories for three cities: Mesquite, Rowlett and Sunnyvale. This was my first full week on the beat, and I was eager to reconnect with the mall and the town, to see how they'd changed in the years since I'd been there.
The first change, of course, was the approach: instead of zipping east on I-20, I was now starting from the office in Plano. No problem - just go down 75, take 635 east. I even printed a map.
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| Monique Oaks |
And yet, somehow, I did, although it didn't help me as my car - as if drawn by a force field - found itself on I-30. At least I had the sense to turn the wheel east.
I really don't know how I found the mall, except that one minute I was at a gas station, texting one of the guys that I was impossibly lost, and a second later I looked up and saw the mall's signature spire looming, right across the street.
And Buca di Beppo? It charmed me. Like a good book, movie or theme park has the power to restructure your world and suspend you within another, I soon forgot my distress and was ready to try again.
So, the next week, we three were to meet at Big Star Burgers in Rowlett. Again, I had been to the town before - within the month, no less - and, again, it didn't matter. This time, I began my trip from farther north, but still, all I had to do was head south on 75, east on ... well, this time I decided to take the turnpike.
And my car decided to take 30 again.
I eventually made it to Rowlett and Big Star, with plenty of help and good-natured joshing from my co-workers.
I suppose next time, the three of us will meet someplace in Sunnyvale. I look forward to it.
And I'll get there, guys, eventually ... after my car takes a detour.
Monique Oaks is a staff writer at Star Local News. Contact her at moaks@starlocalnews.com
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