RATED PG
Ray smiled, enjoying the chaos around him
It was Halloween evening, and Tony and Maria’s children were having a party at the Vecchio house. The house was filled with children in costume, noise, laughter, excitement, and delicious food smells.
The children had been fed a wonderful meal of hot dogs and macaroni and cheese; and there had also been chili and cornbread for the adults. After dinner each child had been given a pumpkin to decorate (using paints and magic markers rather than knives) then given a goodie bag and herded into the living room to watch scary movies.
The living room was decorated to look like a haunted house, with cobwebs, ghosts and witches decorating the walls and the fireplace, and bats and more cobwebs hanging from the ceiling.
Ray turned off the scary sound effects CD that was playing and put the first movie in the VCR. The kids tore into their goodie bags, and settled down to watch the show, and Ray grabbed Benny and led him back into the kitchen.
"Alone at last," Ray laughed.
“This is a nice party,” Benny said, “but a bit…”
“Insane?”
“Hectic,” Benny corrected.
“Come here,” Ray said, grabbing Benny and pulling him closer. He looked Benny up and down, admiring him yet again.
Benny had declined to wear a costume, and was dressed in blue jeans and a powder-blue sweatshirt. His eyes looked the same color as the shirt, and he was smiling at Ray, and at the moment he was all the Halloween treat Ray could want.
“Do you think we have time enough to sneak away upstairs?” he whispered against Benny’s lips.
Benny sighed and started to answer, when they were interrupted by the shrieks of James and Ryan Fox, the twins who lived across the street. Or, as Ray called them in his less-charitable moments, “the hell spawn.”
Benny sighed again, much less happily this time, and pulled away. “I’ll go see what’s up,” he said resignedly, and headed out of the kitchen towards the living room. He was almost to the door when he was bumped into by James, who was running at full speed.
Benny stumbled and fell to the floor, reaching out to catch himself with his right hand.
“What is it?” Ray snapped at the two boys.
“Ryan won’t stop scaring me!” James said, somehow managing to whine at the top of his lungs.
“You’re just a wuss!” Ryan said, and began dancing around his brother, poking him with his skeleton flashlight. “Wussy, wussy, wussy!”
“Stop it!” Ray said. He used a quiet but very authoritative voice, and it got through to the two boys, who fell silent and stared up at him.
“You two go back into the living room and watch the movie and behave yourselves, or you’ll go home early. You don’t want that, do you?”
“No!” the boys said in unison, shaking their heads.
“Okay then.”
The two boys meekly left the room, and Ray looked over at Benny, who was still sitting on the floor, leaning against one of the kitchen chairs. He was holding his right arm carefully against his chest.
“Benny?”
Benny looked up at him. “My arm, Ray. I think it’s broken.”
“Oh dear.”
Ray went into the living room and over to his mother. “Ma,” he whispered, “Benny fell and hurt his arm. I think it’s broken. I’m taking him to the emergency room.”
“Oh no, Caro,” Rosa said, looking worried.
“Don’t worry, Ma, it’s nothing too serious. You’ll just have to handle things without me and Benny.”
“I think four adults can handle things,” Rosa said dryly.
“Okay Ma, thanks.” Ray gave her a kiss on the cheek and left the living room. Frannie, who had overheard the whispered conversation, got up and followed him.
The Vecchio siblings entered the kitchen where Benny was now sitting in the chair he had been leaning against, still holding his arm against his chest.
“Are you all right, Benton?” Frannie asked.
Benny nodded. “I’ll be fine, don’t worry.”
“We need some kind of sling for your arm,” Ray said.
“Here.” Frannie stepped forward. She was in costume as a 1920’s flapper, complete with a hot pink feather boa around her neck. She removed the boa and tied it around Benny’s neck, then gently eased his arm into it. “Does that feel okay?” she asked.
“Yes, it feels fine.”
“And it looks very fashionable, too,” Ray grinned, earning a dirty look from Benny.
“Come on,” Ray sighed, “we’d better get going.”
“We’ll be back shortly,” Benny told Frannie.
Ray snorted. “Right. We’re going to the emergency room on Halloween. If we’re lucky, we’ll make it home sometime tonight.”
Ray sighed heavily as he eased the Riv to a stop at a red light. Their time in the emergency room had fallen somewhere between his estimate and Benny’s. They had spent a total of four hours there, and Benny had emerged with a red cast on his arm, a shot of painkillers flowing through his bloodstream, and prescription for further painkillers.
“What is it, Ray?” Benny asked.
Ray shook his head. “Why the hell can’t we ever have a nice normal quiet holiday like everyone else? How come one of us always ends up sick or working or in the hospital?”
“Now Ray, I think that’s somewhat of an exaggeration,” Benny said.
“No it’s not! For God’s sake, even on Groundhog Day I wound up in the hospital!”
“You did?”
“Yeah, remember? That’s the day of the snowstorm, and I crashed the Riv.”
Benny blinked. “That was Groundhog Day?”
“Yes, it was.”
“I didn’t remember that.”
Benny did remember the accident, though. Ray had wound up in the emergency room with a concussion and six stitches to close a cut on his temple. Benny shivered and reached over to gently stroke the faint scar that lingered on Ray’s head.
Ray took Benny’s hand and squeezed it, then let it go as the light turned green and he turned his attention back to the road.
Benny sighed. “Maybe we’ve gotten all the holiday bad luck over with, and we’re going to have a wonderful, accident-free Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
Ray made a noise of derision. “Right. I’ll bet you that on Thanksgiving, one of us winds up with a tryptophan overdose and has to be rushed to the hospital in a coma.”
Benny laughed. “I don’t see that happening, Ray.”
“You’re all drugged up right now, Benny. What do you know?”
Benny sighed and shook his head, and the ride to the Vecchio home was finished in silence.
They entered the house through the kitchen, where Rosa and Frannie were sitting at the table having coffee.
“Are you all right, Caro?” Rosa asked, looking at Ben in concern.
“I’m fine,” Benny assured her. “The doctor said it was a clean break, and I only have to wear the cast for four weeks.”
Rosa nodded. “Would you like a cup of coffee?”
Benny started to answer, but a yawn overtook him.
“I guess that means no?” Rosa asked, and Benny blushed slightly.
“He’s zonked,” Ray said. “I’m going to put him to bed.”
“All right. Sleep well, Benton. Let me know if you need anything at all.”
“Thank you Rosa; I will,” Benny said, and allowed Ray to lead him upstairs and into Ray’s bedroom.
Once there, Ray undressed Benny, being very careful when he pulled off the sweatshirt, which was now sadly missing one sleeve. Once he had Benny down to his underwear, he pushed him gently onto the bed, laid him down and covered him with the sheets and blanket.
“You comfortable enough?” Ray asked, and Benny nodded.
Ray looked down at him for a minute, and a sudden grin broke out on his face. “I have a get well present for you.”
“You didn’t have to get me anything,” Benny said.
“Well, if you don’t want it...”
“I didn’t say that,” Benny protested; and Ray laughed.
He headed over to the closet. “Actually, I’m cheating a little bit. I saw this last month and got it for part of your Christmas present. But I think tonight is a much better occasion.”
He came back over to the bed carrying a bag from a local gift shop. “Sorry about the wrapping job.”
“That’s all right,” Benny said. He took the bag and opened it, looking inside. After a minute, he looked back up at Ray. “Now, that is just not amusing, Ray.”
Ray laughed. “Are you sure about that Benny?”
“Quite sure.” Benny pulled a stuffed toy otter from the bag. He held it for a minute, looking at it carefully. “It is cute, however.” A grin almost as mischievous as Ray’s spread over his face. “I’m naming it Ray.”
“Oh no you’re not!” Ray protested.
“It’s my otter, I can name it what I want,” Benny insisted.
Ray just sighed and shook his head.
Benny leaned back more comfortably against the pillows and tucked the toy under his arm in the cast, cradling it against his chest. He started petting the otter with his good hand. “Hello, Ray,” he said.
Ray was about to say something when there was a knock on the bedroom door. “Come in,” he said.
Ray’s nephew Mikey entered the room. “Are you all right, Uncle Fraser?” he asked.
“Yes, I’m fine,” Benny assured the boy.
“Good. Uncle Ray, can you come read me a bedtime story?”
“Sure, Mikey, I’ll be right there.”
“Okay!” The boy ran happily from the room, closing the door behind him.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes, there’s someone else I need to tuck into bed,” Ray said, leaning down to give Benny a quick kiss.
Benny just smiled up at him, glassy-eyed from the painkillers, and Ray laughed as he left the room.
About half an hour later, Ray returned to his bedroom. He stopped next to the bed, looking down at Benny.
Benny was sound asleep, the otter still tucked under his arm. It was very amusing, and at the same time quite touching. Benny looked like a big little boy, sleeping with a stuffed animal clutched against him.
Ray frowned as he wondered if this was the first stuffed toy that Benny had ever had. Shaking off his momentary bad mood, his undressed down to his underwear and slipped into bed next to Benny.
Benny stirred awake and looked sleepily at Ray.
“Hey,” Ray whispered. “You got room for another Ray over there?”
Benny smiled and lifted his left arm.
Ray quickly moved over and lay down on Benny’s chest, and Benny wrapped his arm around him.
The two men quickly fell asleep, Benny with one Ray cradled in his right arm, another Ray wrapped in his left.
THE END
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