What Happened To You!?

Are you ready? the waiter asked us, holding his pad.

I looked up at him and smiled.

When I first started eating at El Patio more than 20 years ago, I was a new grad student and he was a new waiter. Now he and I were both old-timers.

He looked at Trudy and then at me. When he saw me, he smiled and nodded slightly. His smile and nod were always like that. Then he looked at Ben.

Now keep in mind that Ben has been going to El Patio for 16 of his 16 years. When he was an infant, his mom and I would sit at the table eating queso while he sat on the table in his baby carrier.

The waiter looked at Ben and did a double take. Oh my! What happened to you?

We've fertilized him well, I said.

Ben smiled.

No more Child's Plate for you? the waiter joked.

No, Ben said, and he ordered a three-chalupa dinner.

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El Patio on Guadalupe
Austin, Texas

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