Often, a Sunday morning will find my wife and me going out for breakfast. We have a few places we favor and occasionally we choose the retro store with the restaurant attached, Cracker Barrel. Without fail, the place is packed.
This morning was no different. At least 40 people were playing checkers and sitting in rocking chairs ahead of us, a twenty minute wait the greeter informed us. And sure enough, before our demeanor slipped into “hangry”, we were at a table with a menu, a cup of coffee, and a glass of tea.
So how do they do it? I mean there’s only a couple of ways you can order an egg for breakfast. You fry them, scramble them, or fold them into an omelet. Yet, every weekend there’s a line out the door of breakfast junkies looking to get their Old Timer fix. I just don’t get it.
Sure, there’s the allure of shopping for everything your Granma ever wanted, but is that enough to explain it? I don’t think so. There’s got to be something else. And then it occurred to me. It came to me like a side of grits with biscuits and saw-mill gravy. There’s something in the eggs. Let’s break it down.
CRACKer Barrel. Huh? Yeah? You feel it? Makes sense now, right? You can’t see it, smell it, or even taste it, but it’s gotta be in there, Crack! I’m surprised they haven’t been caught out on the street corner offering the first egg for free… or haven’t they? I’ve never been in the kitchen, but I wouldn’t be amazed to discover the eggs over-easy being handed to the server through a slot in a heavy steel door. I mean if they aren’t all jacked up on something, how do you explain how they churn tables like a Ford assembly line? I had to prove this theory.
So I snuck out a portion of scrambled eggs in a napkin, and made my way through the parking lot full of cars and Fedora’d chickens in pale gray trench-coats, to a small pharmacy run by a guy I know. In a matter of hours I had the answer, Omega 3’s, my friend. Omega 3’s! That’s right! Alpha – Omega! The beginning and the end! It was crystal clear to me and I looked at my wife, who had faithfully remained by my side, and recognized the knowing look in her eyes.
I looked at her. She looked at me. And she spoke the words we had both suspected.
“Hey, perhaps twelve cups of coffee is not such a good thing for you!”
rdfindlay 