REVISE TO HAVE SEAN SEE DHANWANTARI ON CABLE TV IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT
As he trudged up the steps to the sleek second-story condo he shared with his partner in bustling San Francisco, Sean mentally retraced what seemed to be the end of a loving relationship. He hadn’t known what went wrong and could not pinpoint when, but somehow Sean and Xavier had gone off the rails. Sean dreaded heading home. His workplace—originally a small Internet music start-up called Muzzik later bought by a behemoth company—gave him financial security, but the atmosphere granted him something more essential. The hustle and bustle of Mussik, with its constant flow of tunes, was his salvation from the depressing silence at home.
To all their friends, Sean and Xavier were the poster children for resiliency. As others broke from partnerships due to infidelity or just sheer boredom, they remained strong and stable. Their dinner parties were legendary among the wider group of friends and acquaintances, with Sean and Xavier doing a perfect do-si-do through the swinging kitchen door as they cleared one course and brought out another. Xavier was the daring cook; Sean, the toastmaster. Everyone left the fêtes full, drunk, and happy.
Yet now Xavier barely got out of bed. He seemed depressed and burned out on their life together. But how and when had Xavier slipped away? Sean didn’t have any answers.
Standing alone in the kitchen, Sean ate some microwaved leftovers. Xavier sat on the living room couch, immersed in another shoot-’em-up show, wearing headphones to block outside noise—an indication he was in no mood to talk.
With a sigh, Sean dragged himself to the bedroom. He kicked off his black Converse low-tops, then stripped off his dark denim jeans and green checked long-sleeve shirt. Now in his white undershirt and black boxer-briefs, Sean stepped into the en suite bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth. Catching his reflection, he appeared quite the opposite of Xavier, with his Amazonian stature, olive complexion, long, black hair, and those soulful, brown eyes.
Sean returned to the bedroom, changed into his blue pajamas, and collapsed into bed. Dreams quickly took over his busy mind. . . A golden glowing man appeared again and again in the background. This incarnation sometimes held out a miraculous, life-giving cup, sometimes a squirming sluglike thing, and sometimes a sharp, threatening knife. Suddenly, just before dawn, the stranger came to the forefront, lying right next to Sean on the platform bed, still holding his trinkets in multiple hands.
“Namaste. I am Dhanwantari, physician to the Hindu gods. Through this cup, leech, and scalpel, I bring Ayurvedic medicine to the world. ”
Sean rolled to his side to face the intruder of his personal space. “Why have you been haunting my dreams?”
“My good works as a doctor and conveyer of Ayurveda led a Hindu god to grant me the gift of divine love.”
Before posing another question, Sean paused to take in the crazy god doctor. What looked like an upside down two-handled brass trophy covered this Dhanwantari’s head. Hand-hammered metal cuffs highlighted his finely sculpted biceps. The bare-chested entity wore a long lei draped to his hip, where flowing fabric stopped in a knot, drawing Sean’s eyes to his six-pack abs.
Dhanwantari continued to glow, giving off a warmth that felt like wood burning in a fire pit. He transported Sean to the delicious memory of the first bite of a s’more. Next Sean inhaled honeysuckle and remembered his boyhood fun of sucking on the summer blossoms. Soon Sean was enveloped in the sounds of babies laughing, which led to a silly grin on Sean’s face. He made Sean feel completely comfortable in bed with him.
“Have you come to help Xavier and me?”
“Perhaps, perhaps. . .” Dhanwantari said mysteriously. Dhanwantari’s golden glow transformed into colors of a rainbow, one after another, which then merged—just like peering through a kaleidoscope.
And then he was gone.
Rays of the morning sun awoke Sean, alone in bed. He groggily thought: what a crazy dream, and yet it seemed so real. Suddenly, he was aware of a set of deep, dark eyes gazing at him. What the. . . ? Then, as if in a movie, all the wonderful moments with his partner—from their last dinner party to their first meeting—came rushing back, especially the first hug that felt like home. And he was home in love, all over again.
Sean knew then he had to fight for their relationship.