Dreamcatcher
by Shannon McKinnon

Ray stood in front of the bedroom mirror, smiling and humming as he fastened his tie. Today was his birthday, and Benny had something special planned, although he wouldn’t say what.

The day had started with Benny serving him breakfast in bed- and a special after breakfast treat which had left Ray smiling all day.

Of course, he had received the best present of all when he and Benny had moved into this apartment together a few months ago.

He had Benny to himself, day and night, each and every day. What more could he ask for? This had already been his best birthday ever.

“Are you almost ready, Ray?”

Ray turned to see Benny, already dressed in a suit and tie, looking at him a trifle nervously.

Ray gave one last tug at his tie and turned to Benny with a smile. “All set. Let’s go.”

As they walked through the living room, they heard a plaintive whine, and Ben sighed. “Diefenbaker, we have been over this and over this. You can’t come with us, I’m sorry. I’m afraid this is a private, humans-only celebration between Ray and myself.”

Dief whined again, looking very pathetic.

“Well, just remember what I promised you earlier,” Ben said; and Diefenbaker perked up, his tail wagging.

“What did you promise him?” Ray asked.

“Hmm? Oh, nothing. Come on, let’s go.”

Ray sighed and shook his head and followed Benny from the apartment.

They walked outside to where the Riv was parked on the street, and Benny held out his hand. “May I have the keys, please?”

“To my Riviera?” Ray asked in surprise.

“Yes, of course.”

“No way.”

Ben looked at him, eyes wide. “But I’ll need to drive so I can keep our destination secret until the last moment. Don’t you trust me?”

“With my life? Yes. With my heart? Absolutely. Do I trust you to drive my Riv? No way.”

“Oh, that hurts, Ray.”

Ray just grinned at him and gave him a kiss. “You can give me directions, Benny, okay?”

Ben got into the car and closed the door. He considered continuing his snit, but decided against it. It was Ray’s birthday, after all.

Ray got into the car and started the engine, then looked at Benny expectantly. “Well?”

Ben sighed and gave him the address, and Ray’s eyes lit up as a smile spread across his face. “We’re going to Cavaluzzi’s?”

“Yes, Ray.”

Ray was smiling ear to ear now. “Thank you, Benny!”

“I know it’s your favorite restaurant.”

Benny really liked the restaurant as well. It was a small, family-owned establishment. It was not featured in any of the tourist books, and served the local population more than travelers. In both Ray and Benny’s opinion, this only added to the restaurant’s appeal.

The décor and atmosphere were simple and basic, but the food was perfect- the best either man had tasted outside the Vecchio kitchen. Besides being delicious, the chef served ample portions, and Ray and Benny almost always walked away with leftovers.

When they got to the restaurant, they were seated at a small table in front of the fireplace. Ray looked at the fire burning and crackling merrily behind the grate, and he smiled at Benny. They were seated at the best table in the restaurant. “Did you ask for this table specially?”

“Yes,” Ben smiled. “As I said, only the best for your birthday, Ray.”

“How long ago did you call for the reservations?”

“About a month ago.”

“Thank you, Benny.” Ray was touched that his lover would put such thought and planning into his birthday.

“You’re welcome.” Ben gave Ray one of his beautiful smiles, and Ray caught his breath. It was going to be a wonderful night.

The waitress came over to the table and handed them each a menu. She was a tall woman with
shoulder-length curly black hair and a friendly smile. She reminded Ray a little bit of his sister Maria.

“Can I get you gentleman anything to drink?” She asked.

Ray looked at Benny. “I know we don’t usually do this, Benny; but do you think we should...”

Ben looked at him, a serious expression on his face. “Well, tonight is a special occasion.”

Ray nodded and turned to the waitress. “Two blackberry Italian sodas, please.”

“Coming right up.” The waitress walked away, a grin on her face.

Ray and Benny turned their attention to the menu, trying to chose among the many tempting dishes offered.

Finally they decided that Ray would order the seafood linguine and Benny would order stuffed shells, and they would share. They also ordered green salads and a loaf of garlic bread.

The food was as good as it always was, and the men enjoyed their meals, relaxing over the food and talking about things both important and trivial. When it came time for dessert, Ray insisted that they both have tiramisu, and Ben agreed with no argument at all.

“Could we get an order of spaghetti and meat sauce to go, please?” Ben asked the waitress.

“Of course,” she smiled.

Ray looked at Benny, puzzled, then he remembered the conversation between Fraser and his wolf back in the apartment. “You promised Dief you’d bring him dinner, didn’t you?” He asked with a grin.

“Well, yes Ray. He was feeling hurt enough already. I didn’t want to exclude him completely.”

Ray laughed. “You old softie.”

Ben looked indignant, and Ray laughed even harder.

The men finished their desserts and lingered over their coffee, savoring the last of the meal. Benny brought a gift-wrapped package up from the seat next to him and placed it on the table in front of Ray.

Ray grinned at him. “A birthday present. Cool!”

Benny nodded. “I hope you like it, Ray.” He seemed nervous all of a sudden.

Ray just smiled at him and tore the wrappings from the package. He removed the lid from the box and pulled out the item that was lying inside. “Wow, Benny.”

“It’s a dreamcatcher.”

“Dreamcatcher?”

“Yes. You hang it in the window of your bedroom, and it catches all your bad dreams, so you can sleep well.”

“Oh.” Ray turned the dreamcatcher slowly in his hands, looking it over closely. “It’s very nice, Benny. Did you send all the way to Canada for it?”

“No, Ray. I made it myself.”

Ray’s eyes widened. “You did? You made this?”

“Yes.”

“Wow.” Ray’s voice was full of awe. He looked the dreamcatcher over again, more closely this time. “This is beautiful. When did you find the time to do this?”

Ben smiled at him. “I would work on it the nights we weren’t together. Or on the weekends.”

Ray was looking at him in amazement. “How long did you work on it?”

Ben shrugged. “I started work on it shortly after your last birthday.”

“A year?” Ray asked incredulously. “You’ve been working on this for a year?”

“Yes, Ray,” Ben said calmly, as if it were no big deal at all.

Ray shook his head and continued his investigation of his present. He reached out a finger and gently stroked a feather hanging from the dreamcatcher. “Wow. This looks like a real eagle feather.”

“It is,” Ben smiled.

“Really? It’s a real American Eagle feather?”

“Yes Ray.”

“What did you do, Benny? Go out into the wild and chase down some unsuspecting eagle and pluck the feather from him?”

“Of course not!” Ben seemed aghast at the suggestion. “Not only would that be highly impractical, Ray, it would be illegal.”

“Of course,” Ray smiled at him teasingly. “So you bought it?”

“Not exactly.”

Ray sensed Benny gearing up to tell a story, and leaned back to enjoy it. As much as he loved teasing Benny about his stories, and sometimes got annoyed with them, he loved watching Benny tell a story. He loved how Benny’s eyes lit up and his whole demeanor changed; how his entire face came alive.

“Just for starters, I had to apply to the National Eagle Repository in Commerce City, Colorado.”

“And they just sent it to you?”

Ben laughed his ‘Oh Ray, if you only knew‘ laugh. “If only it were that easy. No, after submitting my application, I went through a very long- and I might add, anxious- waiting period; hoping someone somehow stumbled upon a dead eagle, and then knew enough to put it on ice and send it to Commerce City.”

“Go on,” Ray nodded. Despite himself, he was becoming very involved in Benny’s story.

“Well, after that I had to wait some more, and hope that another, more important and pressing need wouldn’t take priority over my request.”

“Such as?”

“Such as a Shaman needing the feather for a sacred ritual or ceremony.”

“I see,” Ray nodded solemnly.

“Imagine my relief and joy when I received the eagle feather, just a few months ago. If I hadn’t received it, I would have had to wait for your next birthday, or maybe Christmas, before I was able to give this gift to you.”

Ray was staring at him in disbelief. “You went through all of that just to get one feather?”

Ben nodded.

“And you put in all that work on the dreamcatcher without even knowing if you’d be able to give it to me?”

“Yes, Ray.”

Ray shook his head. “Wow. Benny, I... thank you. I can’t believe you did all that, just for my birthday present.”

“It’s no less than you deserve, Ray.”

Ray blinked and cleared his throat, then turned all his attention to wrapping the dreamcatcher in the tissue paper and putting it back in the box.

The waitress came back over to the table. “Would you gentleman like some more coffee?”

Ray just shook his head, not looking up.

“No thank you,” Ben smiled at her.

“All right, I’ll just leave these then,” she said, placing the check and carryout order on the table. “You have a great night, now.”

“Thank you,” Benny said.

After the waitress had gone, Ray looked back up at Benny, one hand still resting lightly on his present. “You know, I really like my present, and I appreciate all you went through to make it, but it was really unnecessary.”

Ben looked at him, puzzled.

“You keep my bad dreams away, Benny.”

Ben looked at him for a long, silent moment, then he pulled his wallet from his pocket and placed some money on top of the check. He then stood up and moved to Ray’s side of the table and held out his hand. “Come on love,” he said softly. “Let’s go home.”

Ray lay in bed, perfectly content. After coming back from the restaurant, he and Benny had made love, then laid in bed for a long time, talking. After a while Ben had drifted off to sleep, but Ray was still wide awake.

As much as he loved making love with Benny, Ray sometimes felt that he loved this even more. Lying here in bed, calm and relaxed, holding a sleeping Benny in his arms, Ray felt completely safe, as if nothing could intrude on his world and harm him ever again.

He ran a hand through Benny’s hair, then gently up and down his back. His eyes fell upon his dreamcatcher, still in its box on top of the dresser, and he smiled.

Slipping carefully from Benny’s arms and out of bed, Ray padded across the floor and lifted the dreamcatcher from the box, holding it up to the light filtering in from both the moon and the streetlights outside.

He thought for a moment, then shrugged. What the hell. He went into the kitchen, then came back with a hammer and nail. Quickly driving the nail into the wall above the window, he hung the dreamcatcher, then stood back to admire his handiwork. Perfect.

“Ray?”

Ray turned at the sound of his lover’s sleepy voice. “Yeah, Benny?”

“What are you doing?”

Ray smiled and stepped aside.

Ben saw the dreamcatcher hanging in the window and smiled. “Ah.” He held his hand out to Ray. “Come back to bed, love.”

Ray tossed the hammer onto the dresser, then moved back to the bed and slipped under the covers next to Benny. “Better?” He teased.

“Much better,” Benny said.

Ray gave him a kiss. “Thank you, Benny.”

“For what?”

“For my best birthday ever.”

Ben gave him a beautiful, sleepy smile. “You’re very welcome, Ray.” He nestled his head onto Ray’s shoulder and quickly fell back asleep.

Ray continued to lie awake, holding Benny and watching his dreamcatcher spin gently in and out of the light from the window.

THE END