I took a shadow out on a date last night. 720Please respect copyright.PENANAbGStpun6qc
We looked at each other with mutual understanding, 720Please respect copyright.PENANAvxrbKAYBcO
and on a picnic blanket nestled down to watch the fireworks.720Please respect copyright.PENANAvbbjo79wuf
The sun’s stain oozed around the edge of the horizon,720Please respect copyright.PENANA5Tlk3P0q42
and suddenly my date was nothing more than some 720Please respect copyright.PENANALyJiBIq4XT
blurry silhouette720Please respect copyright.PENANAvGNjipryKn
like those weird purple-green blotches you see 720Please respect copyright.PENANAd7VIekrSua
after staring at a bright light.720Please respect copyright.PENANATTzgUOu45N
Cold? I asked, but there was no answer, 720Please respect copyright.PENANA0YvS8dSArs
and it hadn’t been a question anyway,720Please respect copyright.PENANAsDCo07rJGh
but my date couldn’t care less about whether or not I wanted a blanket.720Please respect copyright.PENANAJuJeLqVgQf
He was cold and unfeeling and barely there, 720Please respect copyright.PENANADQpI20XgAu
blotchy green and purple,720Please respect copyright.PENANA1rB3zxhTIt
fading every few seconds into the scenery, 720Please respect copyright.PENANAyMADf304TX
which wasn’t pleasant either, mainly rubbish and720Please respect copyright.PENANA9RKtecmpOU
dead bushes.
The fireworks started, only to be interrupted halfway through by720Please respect copyright.PENANAaItCwZ8jzj
an Alien Invasion. It turned out okay though. 720Please respect copyright.PENANAbqyLiX6lAA
Their spinning starcrafts had been driving past,720Please respect copyright.PENANAXP8vrzShmf
and they had only wanted to see the fireworks,720Please respect copyright.PENANAP7UYPpEiqB
so in true patriotic spirit we welcomed them. 720Please respect copyright.PENANAjHkDYJRKoY
How could any of us deny them such a simple wish720Please respect copyright.PENANAzIZQiihBYb
on such a lovely humid sticky yukky night?720Please respect copyright.PENANAj9Dho2gNbf
Then some of the babies got scared of their glowy eyestalks, and started crying, 720Please respect copyright.PENANATUmhSiumAk
so the aliens got moved to a cordoned section720Please respect copyright.PENANAd3Vd3f5dTQ
which was for the good of everyone. 720Please respect copyright.PENANAhCHoqwhWl8
They’d gotten a little rowdy,
if you know what I mean—
of course you do.
Doesn’t everyone?
I’d gotten separated from my date, 720Please respect copyright.PENANAesbTvP6Hyz
the shadow, 720Please respect copyright.PENANAYRebZpQwPt
in the chaos, 720Please respect copyright.PENANAsLKJnps1mu
so I sat next to a little old lady720Please respect copyright.PENANAEYC8hgtve7
and her grandson, and the evening got a hell of a lot weirder. 720Please respect copyright.PENANAoOc3jnp8xt
It did get more interesting, too, and720Please respect copyright.PENANAuzfCEOumAT
secretly, I thought it was probably a good thing 720Please respect copyright.PENANAT78RDnqxdE
that the shadow had gotten left behind.720Please respect copyright.PENANATBPh3Ib5Ag
The little old lady then introduced herself as Connie, 720Please respect copyright.PENANAfDP9nVNpY5
which may have been short for something else,720Please respect copyright.PENANAOgIEik1E1X
and her grandson as Other Demons720Please respect copyright.PENANAUIp7ZdtGSj
(which I thought was not very subtle).
Because it turns out that they were demons,720Please respect copyright.PENANAgYiOwbSrVm
I could tell by the way their forked tail lashed in the long grass,720Please respect copyright.PENANApBnyUUrgr5
shifty eyes all yellow aglow, fogged up by some metaphors for misery,720Please respect copyright.PENANAtPdVIznWxJ
or something.720Please respect copyright.PENANAHagWO2wgSS
I certainly hadn’t been expecting THAT tonight, anyway,720Please respect copyright.PENANAfZwbEXcDHQ
and to be honest I was unsure of what to do.
I began to realise why they’d been sitting a little apart from the others.
Over the course of the night, I remembered my grandma’s advice.720Please respect copyright.PENANA4yZCwUG79p
If you ever meet a demon, be nice. 720Please respect copyright.PENANAOtTwPRIOzM
It had seemed random at the time.
I decided to have a little conversation,720Please respect copyright.PENANAWN9X9YLm5X
you know, get to know them a bit.720Please respect copyright.PENANA7XewJD8kxh
With a soundtrack of crackling thunder-like booms 720Please respect copyright.PENANAEx5jpy6iyA
and sparks of ether raining down in the night sky,720Please respect copyright.PENANAjYxpd5fPDc
I realised that actually, they maybe weren’t all that bad. 720Please respect copyright.PENANAmtBSNKN9h8
They were eccentric, but good hearted, probably.720Please respect copyright.PENANArReeHlZaKl
You’re welcome to come around sometime,720Please respect copyright.PENANAuRAIE8th9Z
I said, at 84 Osborne street. 720Please respect copyright.PENANAPdj9GrIkL5
I channelled some literature; don’t bother knocking, 720Please respect copyright.PENANAuq3UVuJRVx
and they smiled, I think, a frowny smile, 720Please respect copyright.PENANAOF4J88YnIa
and went back to their home, 720Please respect copyright.PENANA9W5xta7Tqp
flapping away into the clouds on black leathery wings 720Please respect copyright.PENANAoYScfcaOox
which reminded me of liquorice.
Later I found out that they’d been on their way720Please respect copyright.PENANAMKByCP7U80
to feast on some lonely children720Please respect copyright.PENANAE5yHFfEthr
but had gotten sidetracked by fireworks,720Please respect copyright.PENANAapyj1AoNjG
as you do.
The fireworks had ended already720Please respect copyright.PENANA7Fbh5aoSj5
by the time I made my way back to the sleigh I’d parked 720Please respect copyright.PENANAU7eccrD6E5
between a battered Toyota 720Please respect copyright.PENANAqZzUOpLwaS
and a hulking four wheel drive.720Please respect copyright.PENANAwgorEqTQFr
My eight kangaroos pulled me all the way back,720Please respect copyright.PENANA5Tvu50v1wD
up and down office buildings,720Please respect copyright.PENANArZcaS7nRs0
through the desert,720Please respect copyright.PENANARmrHI9jajZ
around and around a roundabout (we got caught in the whirl)720Please respect copyright.PENANAIOgccJ8oZW
across a river, 720Please respect copyright.PENANA4VNgskA8CF
over the milky way,
and then we pulled up on the lawn 720Please respect copyright.PENANAnuvT691uBM
of my suburban house.720Please respect copyright.PENANAIhUvFNiizo
Walking inside, I flopped face down, doll-like,720Please respect copyright.PENANAkTSVyDUZZT
and fell asleep on an old white mattress720Please respect copyright.PENANAlK8O485iT4
under a fading southern cross.720Please respect copyright.PENANA4Dm41JDsF5
Happy Australia Day720Please respect copyright.PENANAcWT4udjwVR