Today was the day.

The album was out. 

A coat on my back and a scarf around my neck, I'd brave the cold weather for a chance to buy their latest album. 

My twenty fourth birthday had passed. It went....poorly to say the least. I cried again. Typical. The album hadn't come out yet so I couldn't ask for it. Instead I asked for a bit of loose change to pay for it myself. And the day had finally come. 

I almost backflipped the whole way to the shop.

Shivering at the entrance to the store I clasped my hands and looked around. Surely the eager buzzards had left me a copy. They couldn't have bought out the whole stock. 

Right?

There were still two left. I snatched one and almost snatched both just for the fun of it. My heart almost stopped at the cover. 

Sweet sweet God in Heaven....

Angus McKinnon front and center....a devious expression on his face and he had lovely horns....horns? And a tail! Oh, he was beautiful...and the entire rest of the band were there too! Malcolm and Cliff, Philip and Bon. They were beautiful....

I rushed to the checkout to buy it. The cashier was a woman with short red hair and I blinked rapidly thinking I was seeing things. I had been. It wasn't Loretta, but a stranger. She accepted my payment and smiled at me, chewing her gum. Giving a shy smile in return I grabbed my new record and raced home to play it.

**********

Oh, yeah....my folks would love this album....

Not only was Angus correct about the title, but the first song going by the same name was sure to scare people away. Bon's voice was exceptionally good this time around. They worked so hard on this album, they should be proud of themselves. 

I sure was.

The next song was even better. I could just picture Angus running around the studio, a trail of fire behind him. Malcolm and Cliff's singing was more powerful than I had ever heard them before. I didn't know a damn thing about drumming but I sure as hell knew Phil worked his arse off. 

I danced around my bedroom, hoping my parents couldn't hear the vile rock and roll and the vulgar lyrics of sex and more sex. 

There was no shortage of that on this album...

About to collapse from exhaustion I curled up in bed as the last song played, snuggling up in Ang's jumper. It had been great to have around this chilly winter. Bon's voice slithered around the room, singing of barking dogs and the rush of steel in your back at the stroke of midnight.

Damn, I didn't know this is the direction they'd be taking....

It was amazing. Plenty of other bands had made eerie songs with haunting lyrics frightening away parents and Christians. But these boys made me feel safe. Whatever supernatural forces the Church thought followed these men around couldn't hurt me. The band wouldn't allow it. 

I'd see them again.

Someday.