What do you do when you’re a family of eight in a busy restaurant, waiting for food, and you’re looking at some mounted animal heads along the wall, and you’re all in a silly mood?

While focusing in on a mountain sheep, you decide that her name is Eunice, and you all begin thinking up an imaginary tale about her. Someone starts writing the tale on one of the paper silverware sleeves and then passes it and a pen around the table.

Amidst peals of laughter, each person adds details until the tale is finished.

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That’s just what the Allum/Pawlikowski families did in a moment of delightful silliness, and then Lona Allum took the paper home to Maryland and typed it up. And here it is, serving not as an example of a polished tale but instead as to what fun can be had if we don’t take ourselves too seriously. (Note that some of the family members are into athletics.)

Nobody knows for sure, but the story goes that the animals of the Road House were a mystery.

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And Eunice the Mountain Sheep was no exception.

It was a sunny day when suddenly it started storming heavily. Eunice fell in the mud, while the other animals hurried inside to seek shelter.

“Help me!” bleated Eunice. “I am cold and muddy.”

But none of the animals came, until out off the shadows came a creature. It was small, but it stood tall. He approached Eunice and said, “Can I help you madam? I can help. Follow me. Danger is close.”

Eunice followed him until she found out that the tall creature was not a creature at all. It was Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets — wow!

So they saddled up their horse and headed to the mountains where they set up a tent, built a fire, and snuggled in for a cold night.

The next morning, they encountered four players from the Golden State Warriors. No, not the basketball team. This was a specially selected team of park rangers from Yellowstone. (Every year they play basketball with the animals at Yellowstone.)

But this time the park ranger said that the game would have to wait until the rain passed. (Yes, it was still raining, and Eunice was still muddy from the night before. Poor Eunice.)

And then, Steph Curry appeared with one goal on his mind — to acquire his fifth ring. The only one who could stop him was Eunice.

Then Burt the Buffalo came. Burt was known for being a pretty mean player. He fouls out in the first quarter of every game. Sometimes he has to borrow from future games. Referees allow this because he pays off the referees.

Little did Burt know that Cody Sheriff was watching the game! And that’s when things went downhill. The Cody Sheriff had a soft spot for mountain sheep. When he found out what happened to Eunice, he cancelled all basketball games in the park.

Everyone was upset because this was the biggest event of the year. But Eunice said, “Don’t be sad. We are all together so let’s have a big party!”

The party was held in the big barn at the center of the park. Animals from all around came to the party. They had dandelion salad, tall grass for the main course, and a salt lick for dessert. A fun time was had by all.

The End

Remember the tale’s purpose in this column. It shows what eight people can come up with while waiting for their meal and feeling especially silly.