The Drink Dispenser by Kris P. Kreme
When questioning at the third meeting of June O’s support group experiment, whether anyone has actually been helped, Cassie ends up volunteering to share her reasons for being there.
A hardworking mother who spends time as a waitress, wife, and mother of twin boys, Cassie has gotten frustrated by her role in life. In every instance she feels like little more than a drink dispenser, but after her spirit animal tale tells of the cow, she may just learn to love such a role.
But how much can she give and take before losing herself to the pleasure of it all, no matter where the pleasure cums from?
By the third meeting of the most unusual support group nine strangers ever joined, most of the remaining seven have at least gotten to know each other. But that doesn’t mean there’s all that much socializing since each of them still feels the frustrations of their troubles that brought them there. But on this night, one of them may end up milking the most out of a life they never knew.
As June O prepares to lead the group yet again, one woman has to ask how they can be sure the two helped so far were actually helped, or whether they just saw what nonsense the spirit animal tales were and decided not to come back.
That woman is Cassie, and after a discussion among the group about how June is following up to make sure each is helped by their personalized tales, Cassie gets up to tell her story, to hopefully receive her help.
As a nearly middle-aged woman, Cassie certainly doesn’t look it, and most of her efforts to remain an attractive woman has to do with her job as a waitress, a job where tips depend on looking a certain way. But between her job and her home, Cassie has started to feel like little more than some glorified drink dispenser.
At home her husband restores furniture and she’s always taking him a beer when he needs it. Their twin sons Callum and Connor are at the age where they are more interested in their lives and going off to college than anything else, so interactions have become little more than bringing them sodas or other drinks… so again, she feels like nothing but a drink dispenser. And while it certainly isn’t the most serious reason to turn to a support group, Cassie appreciates that June recognizes the roles so many get stuck in. As she puts it, the man on the other side of the conference call device listening in is probably already at work rewriting the role Cassie has endured.
But after getting home and of course serving the drinks to husband and sons busily working on a chair restoration, Cassie isn’t so sure anything can change her life for the better. She’s certainly not feeling that way after reading about her spirit animal… the cow. Even her spirit animal seems like a drink dispenser, and the little story about herself embodying the cow seems more like some perverted character sheet for adolescent fantasies.
Waking up the next day though, something seems off… nothing obvious, at least not at first, but Cassie definitely is aware of how tender and swollen her chest seems. And until she’s at the breakfast table and her sons stop by with empty glasses asking for a drink before they leave to take a college entrance exam, Cassie has no idea just why everything seems somehow off.
Soon her husband is explaining the rules by which they all treat and take care of their Cassie cow, and Cassie may find all new satisfaction in life, no matter whether she’s The Drink Dispenser.
June O June may sometimes leave readers drained but ready for moo-re.
Coming next… It’s a steal
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