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Benny & Ray 83 Bambina Dee Gilles Rated G

Anna Carolina Vecchio was pushed into the world, wailing and wet, on Wednesday February 18 2004, at 4:10 a.m., to which her grandmother, Dr. Abbott, and two nurses bore witness.

Ben and Ray had both decided to honor their mothers by naming the baby after them. Sophia was beyond pleased. She had tried the name out as she and Ray stood and watched Benton gently cradle his bambina in his arms. Only she pronounced the name Caroline in it's Italian form, rendering it CarolEEna.

"Yeah," Ray said, beaming. He touched the faint strawberry birthmark in the center of her little chest. "Carolina," he said, echoing his mother. "I like that. That okay with you, Benny?"

"It's fine, Ray," Ben had agreed, nodding. He was quietly misty-eyed.

Ray loosely wrapped his arms around Ben and Carolina. "My little family," he murmured, awed. "Thank you, Benny." He gazed into Ben's eyes, and the two shared a brief kiss.

The girl weighed in at 7 lbs, 6 oz. "Is that all?" Francesca had remarked earlier upon hearing the news. "She felt like about fifty." She was nineteen inches long.

"Look at her hair!" Ray had cried excitedly as soon as he entered the room, trailing Ben. Carolina had a full thick mop of dark hair, a miniature version of her mother's disheveled do.

Ray left Benny's embraced and gently set a hip on the side of his sister's bed. She had been cleaned up and moved to small but comfortable private room. "How you feelin'?" Ray asked.

Francesca's face was pale, and she looked so small and young. Ray marveled that she had been able to deliver a baby past her narrow hips. "Tired," she said. Her voice sounded weak. "But happy. So, did I make good, or what?"

Ray chuckled with gentle affection. "Yeah. Yeah, you made real good." He bent down and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

VVVVVV

Ray was ten when little Francesca was born. His mother and father had disappeared late one evening. Paul and Maria were already in bed, but Ray was still up, fighting sleep. Ray remembered that his mother was panting a little, clutching her pregnant belly. Ray knew enough from playground talk to know about sex and pregnancy, but the thought of his parents committing such acts horrified him; he tried not to think about that part.

Neither of his parents referred to the pregnancy very much, and left Ray, Paul and Maria to their own devices to make of it what they would.

Ray was in the TV room watching Adam-12 when Pop called him into the parlor, saying only that they were going to be at the hospital for a long time, and to make sure he and Paul went to school in the morning just like regular, and to make sure that the two of them walked Maria to school, and hold her hand when they crossed the street. When school was done, he had sternly warned, come straight home. And I mean it, straight home, Raymond.

Ray did as his father had instructed. He was the oldest; he was in charge. The next morning, he got himself and his siblings ready for school. He poured them all Corn Flakes cereal, heaped with sugar and strawberries, and made them toast with butter, and poured orange juice. Outside, snow was flying about, and so he had gotten Maria into her big winter coat and wrapped her head in a scarf, much to her protest. He made her wear her mittens.

He and Paul had walked her all the way to her second grade homeroom, and he lead his little brother down the hall of Saint Leo's, where they shared a fourth grade homeroom.

He had been nervous with anticipation the rest of the day. After the final bell sounded, Ray gathered up his siblings and led them home again.

His father pulled into the driveway a few minutes after they had gotten home. He loaded them up in the car, and he took them to the hospital to see their mother.

Ray remembered walking through the long, bright corridor with a sense of awe. The hospital was a big, mysterious, grown-up place. Pop ushered them into their mother's room. His mother's long, curly hair, which he had hardly ever seen down, cascaded down to her elbows, making her seem like a different person. Ray shyly pulled back a little, until Ma opened her arms and smiled at him, looking like herself again. She had hugged and kissed her children, telling them how much she missed them.

Pop had taken them to the ward to see their new baby sister. Maria and Paul both cooed with love at the sight of her, but Ray saw the little pink rumpled thing and hated her instantly.

Ma and the baby were at home when they got home from school on Monday. She slept in a bassinet in the kitchen while Ma baked brownies. Ray remembered distinctly that Francesca wore a fuzzy pink blanket sleeper, and wore a little white knit cap. She had opened her eyes just as Ray peered down at her, experimentally poking her. She gazed at him as though waiting for him to speak. Finally, Ray said, "Hiya, kid." Francesca reached up and grabbed his finger that dangled over the edge of the bassinet, and they kind of shook hands.

Ray then bent and gave his sister a kiss on the cheek.

VVVVVV

"What?" Francesca asked at Ray's prolonged gaze.

"Nothing," he said. "Just remembering."

He and Benny went home for a few hours to get some sleep.

After sunrise, the tiny room began to fill up with friends and family. Damon arrived, parents Elliott and Louise in tow, and Francesca got to meet her boyfriend's parents. "You have to excuse my appearance," she apologized with some embarrassment. "You're not exactly catching me at my best!" She did her best to smooth her hair down.

Next, Maria, and Tony arrived with Marissa, Donny, Roseanna. They were loaded down with flowers, balloons and two stuffed animals. Their cousins Chloe and Stephanie from across town dropped by, as well as their Aunt Marie-Therese, who cried and said that Carolina looked just like Valerie as a baby.

Melissa MacGregor arrived, dressed in red serge, on her way to the Canadian Consulate. She only got to stay a few minutes before duty called.

Francesca's gang of girlfriends, Tricia, Michelle, Jennifer and Ursula dropped in right after Carolina's feeding, and cooed and ooh'd and ahh'd for a half an hour over the tiny infant. Ursula bought with her a bag full of clothes that her sister's baby had grown out of.

Elaine dropped by with Evan, not quite two now. The toddler took great interest in the newborn, and insisted on giving the baby a kiss before leaving.

Fran and Ray's nephews Paul, David, and Raphy arrived together and visited with their aunt and their new cousin, each young man tall and silent and awkward, having not yet grown into the social grace it took to make polite small talk. Only Raphy was brave enough to hold the little girl.

Even Ray's old partner Micky Doyle stopped in with Lt. Welsh and Marg. And there was a steady stream of Sophia's co-workers who stopped in to see her latest grandchild.

Ray returned in time to run into his old chemo nurse, Rocco. Ray pulled him off his rounds to show off his new baby. He and Ray chatted in the room for a while before Rocco had to return to "Club Med."

Friends, cousins, aunts, uncles, and co-workers stopped in with cards, flowers and gifts.

At one point, Dr. Abbott came in to check on her patients and cleared the room because Francesca had entirely too many well-wishers jammed into the tiny room. Every surface was taken up with flowers and stuffed animals, and a dozen bright balloons were strewn about the room.

Mother and child were given a clean bill of health and were discharged at 6 p.m. on Thursday morning, escorted by a beaming and nervous Ray and Ben. The three had decided that Francesca would spend her maternity leave in their spare bedroom while all three made the adjustment to their new lifestyle, and cared for the needy infant.

Ray wheeled Francesca out and Ben carried Carolina. Ray got both the girls settled in the back of his car, checking the security of the newly installed car seat twice.

Ray eased the car out of park and pulled out into the driveway. He came to a complete stop at the stop sign at the entrance of the hospital, and in fact obeyed all traffic laws, the entire trip. He drove the speed limit, and complained about the crazy drivers with their inconsiderate speeding all the way home.

FINIS