It was on a 2nd or 3rd honeymoon, with my lovely wife, that we found ourselves in suburban Calgary at the family restaurant Earl's. It was a hot and dry evening with a lightning storm crackling and rumbling towards the north end of the city. We had just settled into our booth, our perky waitress getting several Albino Rhino medium-dark ales into our hands as if by magic. Earl's is one of those places that suits everyone; singles, couples, families, you name it. There is something on the menu for everyone and the staff seem suited to the decor and energy level of the place.

On this particular night, it was a fairly busy room and within minutes of getting settled in our space, our waitress brought over a family of four to the booth adjacent to ours. My wife had her back to the group. They seemed normal enough: Mom, Dad, boy and girl. It seems that I had taken little more than a mouthful of my cool brew when Mom turned to face us. She looked rather stricken and with numerous arm gestures, seemed to be pointing to my chest. I was, you see, seated furthest from the clan facing in the direction of the kids.

As the story would go, we had been at a rather novel store in the historic Kensington neighborhood called Fire on the prairie. This store, you should know, sold hot sauces, hot sauces, novel hot sauce related gifts and, yes, more hot sauces.

Long story short, I loaded up on, yea, hot sauces and a really funky t-shirt. It was the t-shirt that was the source of derision with mom. It was basic black, with three hot peppers on the front. On each of the peppers, there was an alien face painted and the inscription read: We are not alone. It seems that this was freaking out the children. When mom caught her breath, she said: "Your shirt is upsetting my children!"

"Would you please turn around?"

Without uttering a word or thinking, I changed places with my wife. It was only after careful reflection on this odd situation did it occur to me that, hey, if this was the kind of thing that scares these young children to distraction, then the world was going to be a truly difficult place for them.

Okay, this is not a cafe story. From time to time, I wear this shirt to work and I always get: "Hey, coffee-man, that is a totally cool t-shirt!î I always tell the whole story.

For the coffeecrew daily, I am Colin.