Seven

There was no Black Sabbath, only Alice Cooper’s ‘Killer’ on disc. Billy stuck the disc into the car stereo. They were nearly there. The Jeep began to pick up speed on the dirt Forest Service road after a law-abiding creep through the streets on the northeast side of Show Low.

YOU COULD BE THE DEVIL/YOU COULD BE THE SAVIOR/WELL I REALLY CAN’T TELL BY THE WAY OF YOUR BEHAVIOR/I’LL TAKE YOU OFF THE BOAT/PUT YOU UNDER MY WINGS YEAH/YOU COULD PULL MY LEG OR ANYTHING/YEAH, YEAH, YEAH, OH YEAH!

The volume on The Alice Cooper Group climbed higher the further they got away from the paved roads and traffic. When “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” began screeching and pounding on the speakers Rich and Billy did a toot from Dave’s travel bullet and began take in the surrounding forests.

“Summer!” Rich beamed. They were making headway to the campground in the White Mountains. Billy looked up from the travel pack of discs he had occupied himself with for the last bunch of miles. The shadows of the thin ponderosa pines and late afternoon sun strobe lit Rich's wide grin.

“Summer?”

“Summer, bro. You know man, shit. It’s just good we’re here right now, getting out in the summer one more… again. Right? This song always fucking reminds me of summer."

“It’s SUFFER, man! He’s fucking singing SUFFER”

“what, huh?” Rich’s smile slackened a bit. “I always thought it was ‘summer’.”

“Fucking Alice Cooper? It’s This is Alice Speakin’! SUFFER!! YEAH!”

Now Rich was intrigued. He glanced slyly at Billy and grinned again. “Oh shit, man. It’s because Alice is fucking evil?”

“Of course he’s fucking evil, it’s not Kiss shouting about teenage pussy.”

“SUFFER, YEAH” Rich shouted at the top of his lungs. Billy pumped his fist as he took another hit off Dave’s bullet.