Kate could hear a faint but persistent whisper and she pulled the pillow over her ears to block the sound. It was the middle of the night, after all.
"Kate...Kate...Kate!"
"What, Heyes, is that you? I'm trying to sleep!" Kate scolded.
"Well, being as you left off with Kid in the doctor's office, maybe dying from that... that...what was it again you got Kid maybe dying from this time?"
"Uhmm, lemme think... Is this the one with the hand to hand combat with the bear in the burning barn?"
"Yeah, that's it! Anyway, I thought with him over there unconscious, this would be a good opportunity for me to talk to you about something...Something I don't want Kid overhearing."
"Can't it wait till morning, Heyes? Kid is still going to be at death's door in the morning, and probably for at least another eighteen chapters."
"So you're the only one that can have brilliant ideas in the middle of the night? You never seem to have a problem waking Kid and me in the middle of the night when you think of some new ailment you can put The Kid through. I can have a brilliant idea in the middle of the night too, you know!"
Kate lowered the pillow, sat up in bed, brush the bedhead hair out of her eyes, and turned on the nightlight.
"Alright, Heyes, what is so all mighty important," Kate asked through a long yawn.
"Well, you know these alter egos Kid and me have? The one's you never write about?"
"You mean Ben and Pete?"
"Yeah, that's their names. Ben and Pete."
"What about them?"
"Do you... Do you actually know them?"
"That's a whole other fantasy Heyes. It's... separate from the two of you. And no, I don't actually know them. Why?"
"Well, Kid's over there at the doctor's and he's mumbling a whole lot of crazy things over there."
"I left him unconscious when I went to bed," Kate said. "What's he doing mumbling on his own? How many times do I have to tell you two not to think on your own? It always lands you in trouble!
"And you don't always land us in trouble?"
Kate sighed heavily. What is Kid mumbling about?"
"He keeps mumbling something about Ben's birthday. The only two people I know named Ben are Ben Bowers and Ben Cartwright and Kid's not apt to know when their birthdays are, so I figure it must be that alter ego of his."
Kate sighed heavily. She hated it when either of the boys tried thinking on their own. It always led to embarrassments or complications.
"You might be on to something, Heyes," she said with a worried expression on her face. "Today is alter ego Ben's birthday."
"Kate, so being as you know his birthday, you must know this alter ego Ben fellow?"
"No," she slowly admitted. "Only in my dreams."
"Never met him?"
"Never."
"Never even laid eyes on him?"
Kate shook her head sadly. "I've only seen pictures."
Heyes suddenly looked quite worried. "Like the one Clem's got locked up of me and Kid? Kate, is this Ben fellow an outlaw, too?"
"No, of course not!"
"Then, what is he and...why do you know the birthday of some man you ain't ever even met?"
"Because I... Because I...Because I just do," Kate replied with obvious irritation.
"Don't get proddy, Kate. Ain't no business of mine why you get all swooney over some fellow you ain't never met...But it does cause me some concern why Kid would know about this fellow's birthday. Explain to me how that happens."
"Are you sure this can't wait till morning, Heyes?" Kate asked, hoping to buy some time to rationalize an irrational fixation with an actor some fifty years senior to the character he so brilliantly brought to life.
Kate glanced at the autographed framed photograph of the tuxedo clad dreamboat mounted on her bedroom wall. "Heyes, haven't you ever loved someone from afar?" Kate asked.
"You mean unrequited love?"
"Well, not exactly. I think unrequited love requires both parties at least knowing the other. I'm talking more about being in love with someone like...Lottie Gilson or Fanny Brown."
"Why would I fall in love with some famous singer I ain't never met?... Ah Kate, don't tell me this Ben fellow a famous singer?"
Kate smiled despite her sleepy demeanor. "No, Ben sounds a lot like Kid when he sings," she replied."Although, I wonder what his singing sounds like in the shower...," she mused as her eyes closed and a smile spread across her face.
"Kate! Pay attention! I think you're drifting away from the issue here. Why would Kid be talking delirious about this fellow Ben's birthday?"
"Heyes, this is really complicated to explain. I'm not even sure I am up to it."
"Try," Heyes urged, using this most threatening outlaw voice.
"Don't use that tone with me, Heyes," Kate said as she fluffed her pillows and leaned back into them, then folded her arms across her chest in a manner that reminded Heyes of Kid.
"Kid Curry is...well he's a part of Ben Murphy. Ben didn't actually create Kid, but he brought life to Kid, just as Pete did to you."
Heyes thought about this for some time.
"This falls into that "Kid and Heyes are fiction," category of yours, don't it?"
Kate pinched her lips together and nodded.
"So, Ben and Pete are real but Kid and Heyes are just...projections of Ben and Pete?"
"Pretty much. That's a good way of looking at it, Heyes."
"So, you being in fantasy love with this Ben fellow is really due to your fantasy love for Kid?"
"No, not exactly. You see Ben is an actor..."
"An actor! Kate, don't you know that actors are considered to be in the same category as singers, whores, and low lifes!"
"Not in my life time, Heyes. A good actor is...revered, idolized, admired, loved from afar. That's what Ben is to me and to thousands of other women in modern times."
"Well he must be a hell of a good actor cause he sure made Kid out to be the best partner I could ever have."
Kate smiled. "And he's done wonderful work with other characters, too. Why he brought life to Will Chisholm and I know you've met Will."
Heyes nodded. "Will would have made a fine outlaw if he weren't so damn honest and forthright."
Kate smiled, her sleepy mind now drifting to nighttime thoughts of Will Chisholm in the tight quarters of a prairie schooner somewhere out in the vast, untamed wilderness...
"Kate! I'm worried about Kid here, remember? We're talking about this Ben fella being...an actor."
"Well from what I've read, Ben Murphy himself is quite an admirable person, thoughtful, and kind, and a little mischievous I suspect," she said with a sly look in her eye.
"And you ain't never met him?"
"No, but I know of people who have and they all have nothing but wonderful things to say about him."
"And today is his birthday?"
"Uh-uh."
"You sending him a card or a box of candy? Flowers maybe?"
Kate shook her head. "That might be a little too forward, Heyes." Kate said as the word 'stalker' flashed through her brain.
"I know what you could do for him for his birthday, Kate. And you'd be helping The Kid out, too."
"What?" she asked, now wide awake with anticipation. Much as she hated to admit it, Heyes did have some good ideas sometimes.
"Well, first thing you do is write The Kid a miracle cure."
"I can do that. I've done that a lot," Kate replied, vigorously nodding her head.
"Then, since Kid seems to be channeling this fellow in his delirium, maybe you could channel Ben a happy Birthday greeting thorough Kid! You said him and Kid are connected."
Kate's thoughts went immediately to The Ben Murphy FaceBook Page and her smile nearly spread beyond the edges of her face.
"I can do that! I can wish him a Happy Birthday, in a nice and respectable manner! Oh, this is wonderful! And all his fans can add their names and maybe their own birthday wishes! A Happy Birthday wish from all those admiring ladies, all across the world! Every single one of us..."
Wishing Ben Murphy a Very Happy and Healthy Birthday!