Family Style

Five Squirrels were sitting around a table quietly eating dinner family-style. The conversation was not quite as lively as the ‘family’ part of ‘family style’ might suggest. The youngest Squirrel, named Trolley, decided the silence was simply too much and it was time to start talking.

“Why is it called family style anyway?” asked Trolley.

The older Squirrels were enjoying their meals and didn’t want to engage in conversation. Each of the other Squirrels was hoping that someone else would answer the question and as such just continued eating. A moment passed, and then another moment, and another, and another.

Trolley just assumed that he didn’t speak up loud enough, so tried again:

“WHY IS IT CALLED FAMILY STYLE? DOES ANYONE KNOW?” Trolley tried again.

The four older Squirrels put down their eating utensils and looked at Trolley. The young buck was still learning the ways of the world so maybe they could all take this in stride, be polite, calmly tell him why it was called family-style, and also let him know that yelling during family-style dinner was unacceptable.

“It’s called family style because we all sit together and eat.” Offered older Squirrel 1, “And also, we don’t allow any yelling…”

“That’s not why it’s called family style,” interrupted older Squirrel 2, “It’s called family style because we all sit and eat the same meal, like a family. And Trolley, next time we’re doing this you're not supposed to…”

“Are you both off your rockers?” Chimed in older Squirrel 3, “It’s called family-style because of the way it’s served. It’s a lot of food in big presentations and you each dig in as you see fit. Now that that’s clear… Trolley, when we sit down to eat like this you’re not supposed to…”

“Now just wait a minute here,” the fourth older Squirrel began, “Could somebody pass me the samosas.”

Everyone looked at the fourth Squirrel, waiting for him to say something else relates to the discussion at hand…

“What you want me to say? I want samosa in my pie-hole if I have to sit through this lecture,” the fourth squirrel continued, addressing Trolley, “Kid it’s called family style because of the reasons they all said, do me another favor, don’t yell at the table. Don’t disturb the peace, will ya?”

“I thought it was called family style because we were all supposed to talk and chat and get caught up on each others lives, like a family.” Trolley offered.

The fourth squirrel had finally received a samosa and began chowing down.

“Good idea kid, how was your day today?” Asked the fourth squirrel.

As the question was posed a piece of samosa flew out of the fourth squirrel’s mouth and onto Trolley’s plate. No one seemed to notice other than Trolley, who looked down at the piece of samosa and didn’t know how to proceed.

“Oh it was fine, I guess…” Trolley answered.

“Good, good” answered the fourth squirrel, “Anything else?”

“Um. Not right now,” Trolley answered.

So Trolley and the other Squirrels went back to eating their family-style meal in silence.