*Author's Note: Any and all persons engaging in any sexual activity are at least eighteen years of age.
Dennis Dumas fought hard to keep the annoyance out of his voice as he wished Babette Babineaux a good night. He double-checked the alarm, then locked the front door of DeGarde National Bank then hurried to his car.
"Damned ignorant bitch," Dennis thought, and then chided himself for having such ugly thoughts about the bubble-headed teller.
But because of her carelessness, he would be late making the coffee for The Sundowner's Group and he could already hear the ribbing he'd take.
Dennis and Marjory Benoit had started The Sundowner's Group of Alcoholics Anonymous roughly four months ago, both agreeing that, by the time they got home, got changed into comfortable clothing, got their dinner, it was hard to make themselves get back out to go to an eight o'clock AA meeting. The Fifth Tradition Group, however, was unwilling to change their meeting time from eight o'clock, so, as Dennis's sponsor, Mitch Redmann suggested, they took their resentment and a coffee pot and started their own group.
At first, the seven o'clock meeting time met with some resistance, but more and more people were seeing that being finished with their AA meeting at eight gave them more time to fellowship, or to go grab a bite, or just get home and unwind.
The Baylor Lake Baptist Church gladly rented them a room in their meeting hall for twenty five a week, or roughly twelve dollars and fifty cents a meeting. There had been more than one time when Dennis, who chaired the Tuesday night meetings, or Marjory, who chaired the Thursday night meetings had to pass the baskets twice to get that week's rent, but again, it was picking up in attendance.
"Hey young feller, thought you might have forgotten about us poor miserable old drunks," Mitch smiled when Dennis pulled up.
"Teller was a thousand off of her tally," Dennis said as the two exchanged a quick hug. "Finally found it; she'd sold a five hundred dollar Cashier's check and..."
"Posted it in the debit ledger instead of the credit ledger," Mitch guessed as he grabbed the large urn they'd need for the coffee.
"Have I told you this story before?" Dennis asked.
"Funny thing about sobriety," Mitch smiled as he filled the urn with water. "Longer you go without a drink, more some of them brain cells start working again. Can't wait until you find out for yourself."
"Screw you too, Mitch, screw you too," Dennis smiled as he put the laminated 'How It Works' and 'The Twelve Traditions' out.
"Now my feelings are deeply hurt," Mitch said.
"Stick around; your feelings will change in just a minute," Marjory said as she sniffed the air. "Damn it; coffee's not ready yet?"
"Teller screwed up..." Dennis started but Marjory was busy helping Mitch while flirting with the gray headed man.
By the time the next member came in, though, the coffee was ready.
"Mitch, there is nothing I love more than a good cup of coffee," Marjory said as she sat next to the man.
"Well, thank you," Mitch smiled as she shifted in the hard plastic chairs the church provided for them.
"But what is this?" Marjory asked and Dennis and David laughed
"Cruel cruel woman, I swear," Mitch smiled.
After the meeting, after Mitch and Marjory had helped him clean up the meeting room and lock up their coffee urn and other supplies, Dennis looked across the street at Chuck, a fairly new restaurant.
"Any of y'all ever eat there?" Dennis asked as David, Paul and Carter were arguing about either Backyard's Barbeque or Jade Garden for dinner.
"No, you?" David asked, squinting as if he was just now noticing that there was a restaurant there.
"No, but Backyard's is so damned noisy; think they'd ever heard of putting carpet in, huh?" Dennis said.
"And that bitch at Jade Garden's always in a bad mood," Paul agreed. "'What you want, huh? No separate check. Too much work! You ready you order, huh?'"
Dennis smiled as his friend imitated the surly waitress at Jade Garden Chinese restaurant.
"There's always Casa Ole," Carter offered.
"Ah yes, nothing like that good old 'fresh out of the microwave' Mexican food, huh?" David scoffed.
"Well, while y'all stand around out here attracting mosquitos, I'm going to see if they're any good," Dennis said and started across Highway 19.
"Dude, if they suck..." David said, trotting after Dennis.
"Yeah, yeah, put it on your next fourth step, huh?" Dennis laughed.
"Y'all sit anywhere," a pudgy strawberry blonde girl smiled as the four men trooped in. "Be right with y'all, okay?"
They selected a table near the plate glass window so they could keep an eye on their cars in the church's parking lot.
"Hi, welcome to Chuck," the girl said, passing out four single sheet laminated menus. "As you can see at the top of your menus, it's called 'Chuck' because all of our hamburgers are made from one hundred percent real ground chuck. We use a...."
"Oh, I thought maybe the 'Up' had fallen off your sign out front," Paul said.
The girl looked at him, and then continued her spiel.
"We use a cast iron grill at five hundred degrees..." she continued.
"Not six hundred degrees?" Paul said. "That's it; I'm out of here."
"Pay no attention to him; none of us do," Dennis smiled and the girl smiled at him.
"The heat seals in the natural juiciness of the one hundred percent chuck and the cast iron ensures that the meat is cooked uniformly; can I get y'all anything to drink?" the girl concluded.
"Coke if y'all got it, Coke. Not Pepsi," Paul said.
"Oh, and let me guess; separate checks," the girl said, writing down 'Coke' for Paul.
"Yes ma'am, please," Dennis said to the attractive young lady.
"And what you want?" she asked, looking into his hazel eyes.
"Ice water for me, please," Dennis said.
"You wuss," David accused.
"What? I like water, just good old plain water," Dennis defended.
"He never even drinks coffee; who ever heard of an alcoholic doesn't drink coffee?" David said to the girl.
"You're an alcoholic?" the girl asked, surprised.
"Yes ma'am, coming up on four years without a drink," Dennis smiled.
"Oh, good for you!" the girl praised, putting a hand on his broad shoulder.
"I just picked up my seven year chip," Paul said, pulling the heavy medallion out of his pocket.
"That's good," she praised but didn't touch his shoulder.
"Y'all got root beer?" Carter asked. "I love root beer. One time, when I was a kid..."
"Root beer, and for you?" the girl asked David.
"Diet Coke for me," David said.
"Be right back," she said and sauntered away.
"She's mine, hear?" Paul demanded. "I saw her first."
"Good God, Paul, she's just a kid, huh?" Dennis admonished.
