Growing up, my mom used to tell me stories of people who asked to be buried with a dessert fork to testify to their conviction that the best was yet to come because eternal life will be sweeter.

The other day, dining in my student residence, a Brazilian student delightedly noticed a dessert spoon set above his plate and exclaimed, “Ah, a prophet!”

Now, I had never before heard someone refer to their cutlery as prophetic, but it made quite a lot of sense.

And like a good prophet, the dessert spoon issued a warning to the young Brazilian not to take seconds and thirds of the main course if he still wanted to have room for dessert.

This got me thinking about how many little signs there are around and among us, giving us cues and clues to the order of things.

So the next time you see a small fork or spoon at your place setting, you can smile at yourself when you think of it as a minor prophet.