Thirteen

 

“You should both hold hands and jump,” Dave wisecracked.  He had scrambled up behind Rich and Billy while they were watching the sun slip behind the horizon.

    “Dave!”  Rich gasped like he genuinely did not expect to see his companion up here on the cliff.  He wheeled around and hugged him like he hadn’t expected to see him anywhere north of Phoenix.  Rich’s embrace caught Dave off guard.  He dropped a lit cigarette on the ground where it quickly blew away.

    “Hey, look what you’ve done man!  Do you want to start a goddamn forest fire up here?”  He pulled away from Rich and glanced around him with brief concern.  Distracted by the sky, Dave stopped his search and gasped, “holy shit, what a lightshow!”

    “That’s what we said.” Billy responded.  He had moved away from the cliff’s edge back toward the boulders, looking for a spot out of the wind to light a cigarette of his own.  “I’m getting kind of thirsty.”

    “I came up here to tell you acid heads that dinner is almost ready.  Let’s get back down there and dig in.” 

    “Oh yeah!, camp, dinner… beer!”  All of these wonderful things re-emerged in Rich’s thoughts.  He began his descent down the boulder field back to the trail.  “Let’s go back to camp!”