The Vending Machine

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The sign next to the machine says it sells cool drinks at 20 cents a serve, but what brands and varieties are anyone’s guess. There are no images or words, nor can I see inside the machine. It is a dull grey box, twice as long as it is wide, with a pullout drawer. There is a slot to take coinage, but nothing else. No colour, no lights, no bells and definitely no whistles.

 I could do with a nice cool drink. I’d like something really fancy, like a gourmet ice cream soda (if such a thing exists), but any palatable drink would do. I figure 20 cents isn’t much to lose on what might be a fruitless experiment, so I take a coin out of my purse and slip it into the slot. Nothing happens for a moment, so I peer into the thin dark slit where the coin disappeared. I can see that my 20 cents is still sitting there, so I stick my fingernail in and give it a push. It drops down with a clatter.

Almost imperceptibly at first, the machine begins to shake and whine, then to tremble and moan. Soon it is rocking wildly from side to side, screeching and wailing. I’m terrified and think that perhaps getting the hell out of there may be the best thing to do when without warning, it stops dead. Not a movement. Not a sound.

Then I hear a gentle ping and the drawer slides open to the brassy notes of a fanfare. Inside the drawer is an astounding pink confection, an ice cream soda to end all ice cream sodas, served in a frosted red glass shaped like a tulip. I lift it out, and put the glass to my lips, sipping gingerly at first. The taste is sensational. Flavours of watermelon, musk and rosewater waltz over my tongue and around my mouth. The ice cream has been replaced with a cool fairy floss gelato which tingles and teases my taste buds. My sipping turns to gulping, but still I savour every mouthful.

“That was incredible,” I say out loud.

The machine chirrups at me, bounces up and down a little, then the drawer shuts with a bang. Again, not a movement, not a sound. Before me is an unremarkable dull grey box which is the most remarkable vending machine I have ever encountered.

It is the best 20 cents I ever spent.

Inspired by a prompt from Jill Badonsky in The Muse Is IN Writing Club.