Sharing a Plate

 Hi there

About 20 years ago, I was at a cafe.  The nicely-dressed  man and woman at a table opposite me were acting strangely.

On a plate between them sat one individual-sized cream-filled lamington cake.  A fork was arranged elegantly to the side, upon a serviette.

The woman signalled to a waiter.  She quietly said, 'May I have a second fork please?  And another serviette? "

The couple shared that one small lamington, savouring it between them for the next fifteen minutes.

Oh.  I felt my face flushing with embarrassment for the couple, because I had suddenly realised the situation - 

They couldn't afford a second lamington.  

My heart went out to the pair.  They were maybe saving up for a house, or - horrors, perhaps both had lost their jobs!   Or their bank accounts had been embezzled?  Or...or with the last couple of dollars they possessed, before bankruptcy, they had decided to go out with a  last big-bang gesture of a shared lamington?

How heroic they were to sit in public in this cafe and brave stares from snobby others who loved to look down their noses at the poor.

I wanted to rush over and drop a dollar or two on their now empty plate...

.... A month or so later, I saw a couple with a plate of pasta between them.  Again, there were two forks, and two serviettes.. What?  Were they recreating that final scene from Disney's "Lady and the Tramp?  Was the country on the edge of a depression, just like the nineteen-twenties, and I knew nothing about it -?

Of course, as the years have gone by, I've realised the answer.

It's a thing.

It's (officially) a shared meal!  These couples aren't poor.  They're just not that hungry....