Concrete Stairs

By Mariah Smith

It was around 16 years ago. Lisa was working at the Spice Rack, an extraordinary restaurant in Mission Beach.

Lisa says that once you sit down, you are greeted with a freshly baked steaming basket of any pastry you can think of. And sitting among the pastries in the basket, the cinnamon rolls are what the spice rack is famous for.

Lisa also told me about the "sardu" man. He was a man who came in all the time, and always ordered the same thing, "Eggs sardu with rice." All of the waitresses wanted to wait on him because he always left a twenty-dollar tip.

John, one of the bus boys at the Spice Rack, had a friend named Scott and offered to set Lisa and him up on a blind date if he could tag along with Mary, another waitress at the Spice Rack. Lisa said yes. So Scott, Lisa and John went to a jazz bar even though Mary never showed up.

When they got to the jazz bar. They were surprised to find Jack, Scott’s best friend sitting at the bar. Jack has cancer and lost his eye because of it. I think I met him once before he died.

Jack is really nice, and so that Lisa and Scott could be alone Jack took Mary’s place and walked off with John.

Scott says that he came to southern California to have fun and date. But six months after he moved he met Lisa, and was disappointed to find the woman of his dreams so soon.

One thing you should know is Lisa and Scott both married once before they met. Both of them had sons. Nate was Lisa’s son. He was around two when Lisa met Scott. And I’m not sure how old Scott’s son Josh was, but he was much older than Nate.

Lisa and Scott dated about six years. Within that time Lisa became pregnant with me.

One November day my mom, my dad, and my brothers all went up to Mt. Laguna. My mom laid out Jack’s blanket and sat down while every one else went for a hike.

When they got home, my mom’s water broke. My dad rushed my mom to the birth center. So on November 25, 1990, I was born. And I set a record weight of 11 and 1/2 pounds.

Two years later, in 1992, Lisa and Scott got married by my dad’s father, in the back yard of our old house——5428 Waverly Avenue, one block down from where we live now.

I don’t remember the wedding, but there are a lot of photos. Most of them were of me with a bloody nose, because on the day of the wedding I fell off the concrete stairs in our old back yard.

The Spice Rack isn’t there anymore. A Super Cuts stands their now.

My parents have been married for 10 years, but they have been in love for 16.