I took a shadow out on a date last night. 721Please respect copyright.PENANAdbGxd5q3C7
We looked at each other with mutual understanding, 721Please respect copyright.PENANAVsJZGyAsPl
and on a picnic blanket nestled down to watch the fireworks.721Please respect copyright.PENANAwTqGVMnzT8
The sun’s stain oozed around the edge of the horizon,721Please respect copyright.PENANAiRfl2AayIe
and suddenly my date was nothing more than some 721Please respect copyright.PENANA5ZaMbJf62P
blurry silhouette721Please respect copyright.PENANAQGcOrHOm2p
like those weird purple-green blotches you see 721Please respect copyright.PENANAU4avwrzjkI
after staring at a bright light.721Please respect copyright.PENANAR1nVQqF7UQ
Cold? I asked, but there was no answer, 721Please respect copyright.PENANAmDoYf7KHDU
and it hadn’t been a question anyway,721Please respect copyright.PENANAbYiLOnw9ty
but my date couldn’t care less about whether or not I wanted a blanket.721Please respect copyright.PENANAzcNLvfjyWP
He was cold and unfeeling and barely there, 721Please respect copyright.PENANAsWW0MHMMXD
blotchy green and purple,721Please respect copyright.PENANAX4CcNdfDdh
fading every few seconds into the scenery, 721Please respect copyright.PENANAt3ouENgfrJ
which wasn’t pleasant either, mainly rubbish and721Please respect copyright.PENANAggKeafkSgf
dead bushes.
The fireworks started, only to be interrupted halfway through by721Please respect copyright.PENANAJQy8YKndp8
an Alien Invasion. It turned out okay though. 721Please respect copyright.PENANAXJRya5IHRz
Their spinning starcrafts had been driving past,721Please respect copyright.PENANARZ9bA7yWdp
and they had only wanted to see the fireworks,721Please respect copyright.PENANA0EBQ6Trrbb
so in true patriotic spirit we welcomed them. 721Please respect copyright.PENANAfQpUsDUPZ2
How could any of us deny them such a simple wish721Please respect copyright.PENANA4FKkMfSRQB
on such a lovely humid sticky yukky night?721Please respect copyright.PENANAdfkzAQ8pAv
Then some of the babies got scared of their glowy eyestalks, and started crying, 721Please respect copyright.PENANAbsLwWC24jd
so the aliens got moved to a cordoned section721Please respect copyright.PENANAzl3i9e44XM
which was for the good of everyone. 721Please respect copyright.PENANA0l1eisPGiX
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, 721Please respect copyright.PENANAUWtFrGWs0B
the shadow, 721Please respect copyright.PENANACW8elvDFof
in the chaos, 721Please respect copyright.PENANAjGuwnVOMEL
so I sat next to a little old lady721Please respect copyright.PENANAHA3PcFueVe
and her grandson, and the evening got a hell of a lot weirder. 721Please respect copyright.PENANAf4lk6izgmu
It did get more interesting, too, and721Please respect copyright.PENANAg4ksvEtfJN
secretly, I thought it was probably a good thing 721Please respect copyright.PENANAR1SPOlJk0O
that the shadow had gotten left behind.721Please respect copyright.PENANARDZ09CRHvd
The little old lady then introduced herself as Connie, 721Please respect copyright.PENANAcAfP35zm0h
which may have been short for something else,721Please respect copyright.PENANAT3GE1msxrW
and her grandson as Other Demons721Please respect copyright.PENANAj26B4yUbOi
(which I thought was not very subtle).
Because it turns out that they were demons,721Please respect copyright.PENANANRjWy0RKSp
I could tell by the way their forked tail lashed in the long grass,721Please respect copyright.PENANAie6rS3seAB
shifty eyes all yellow aglow, fogged up by some metaphors for misery,721Please respect copyright.PENANAZERkoXturl
or something.721Please respect copyright.PENANA36VTP7Nj55
I certainly hadn’t been expecting THAT tonight, anyway,721Please respect copyright.PENANA3boVbbUtrK
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.721Please respect copyright.PENANAjhJxcclw2P
If you ever meet a demon, be nice. 721Please respect copyright.PENANALL7M8n4gJ9
It had seemed random at the time.
I decided to have a little conversation,721Please respect copyright.PENANAMFpvF4srBa
you know, get to know them a bit.721Please respect copyright.PENANAuU0ASV1AVj
With a soundtrack of crackling thunder-like booms 721Please respect copyright.PENANAgbxtSLbJcN
and sparks of ether raining down in the night sky,721Please respect copyright.PENANAUCSCLsspKX
I realised that actually, they maybe weren’t all that bad. 721Please respect copyright.PENANAL7a7BVgXyP
They were eccentric, but good hearted, probably.721Please respect copyright.PENANACFlH3aYOQR
You’re welcome to come around sometime,721Please respect copyright.PENANAJiFj5NyOYb
I said, at 84 Osborne street. 721Please respect copyright.PENANA6F0jJjy3yI
I channelled some literature; don’t bother knocking, 721Please respect copyright.PENANAZLKWV4t2hY
and they smiled, I think, a frowny smile, 721Please respect copyright.PENANAYFOy9GPMaC
and went back to their home, 721Please respect copyright.PENANABF6wgl7HqB
flapping away into the clouds on black leathery wings 721Please respect copyright.PENANAznM9ofrVlu
which reminded me of liquorice.
Later I found out that they’d been on their way721Please respect copyright.PENANAAKedm4kfMZ
to feast on some lonely children721Please respect copyright.PENANAzjxPquANB6
but had gotten sidetracked by fireworks,721Please respect copyright.PENANA37hv3cHwq0
as you do.
The fireworks had ended already721Please respect copyright.PENANAqBDYNkrcOO
by the time I made my way back to the sleigh I’d parked 721Please respect copyright.PENANAgQjXyfUoEQ
between a battered Toyota 721Please respect copyright.PENANAHKAuHYT4y0
and a hulking four wheel drive.721Please respect copyright.PENANASf4w4tZRBH
My eight kangaroos pulled me all the way back,721Please respect copyright.PENANA1N6FaoZjO2
up and down office buildings,721Please respect copyright.PENANAJEZajM9XTC
through the desert,721Please respect copyright.PENANAI8D1K03IYd
around and around a roundabout (we got caught in the whirl)721Please respect copyright.PENANAnG7ZpkqiM0
across a river, 721Please respect copyright.PENANA0EnfDE5Xbt
over the milky way,
and then we pulled up on the lawn 721Please respect copyright.PENANA3Pfn2TsyQI
of my suburban house.721Please respect copyright.PENANA4hOKdkESbn
Walking inside, I flopped face down, doll-like,721Please respect copyright.PENANASdToiX3MmD
and fell asleep on an old white mattress721Please respect copyright.PENANANeeESYO7GR
under a fading southern cross.721Please respect copyright.PENANArUBe4Zj0ld
Happy Australia Day721Please respect copyright.PENANAKj6pKePnvO