I took a shadow out on a date last night. 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEhmhNWEhVU
We looked at each other with mutual understanding, 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj5o2Evqa1T
and on a picnic blanket nestled down to watch the fireworks.968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2gheKBQYai
The sun’s stain oozed around the edge of the horizon,968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJyuh9lZJYG
and suddenly my date was nothing more than some 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Kj8Kf9FQ2
blurry silhouette968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEyDzdLe7O3
like those weird purple-green blotches you see 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡksMXWspvWc
after staring at a bright light.968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGkzv8VUu6j
Cold? I asked, but there was no answer, 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4UEpd0IoU7
and it hadn’t been a question anyway,968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5WbnAZucrM
but my date couldn’t care less about whether or not I wanted a blanket.968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnvrHe7lyEH
He was cold and unfeeling and barely there, 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc97gXPXwBI
blotchy green and purple,968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡos12tG3vk7
fading every few seconds into the scenery, 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLE5D32x6GB
which wasn’t pleasant either, mainly rubbish and968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzwW1urDb1U
dead bushes.
The fireworks started, only to be interrupted halfway through by968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmtWSTEWAFo
an Alien Invasion. It turned out okay though. 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSBzjW5e7Ir
Their spinning starcrafts had been driving past,968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjkQXHeFsQW
and they had only wanted to see the fireworks,968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdbi6UY20BE
so in true patriotic spirit we welcomed them. 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ83oxYNwkg1
How could any of us deny them such a simple wish968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbOHOOQaAg0
on such a lovely humid sticky yukky night?968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHoceajltIl
Then some of the babies got scared of their glowy eyestalks, and started crying, 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkLQFG2rgsJ
so the aliens got moved to a cordoned section968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWkafo0iqHj
which was for the good of everyone. 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHZRKniH4YV
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, 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvHv2GHuJmf
the shadow, 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCl12eP9YCX
in the chaos, 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkx9wDslxYA
so I sat next to a little old lady968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYr2SsF55ey
and her grandson, and the evening got a hell of a lot weirder. 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJhWMPhEESW
It did get more interesting, too, and968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4kIfpOG4Ud
secretly, I thought it was probably a good thing 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡquvdeLhbBh
that the shadow had gotten left behind.968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMikfA0TGlC
The little old lady then introduced herself as Connie, 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjYbEjqX2M2
which may have been short for something else,968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJXqsdxBJ0i
and her grandson as Other Demons968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPrmgGMAkHt
(which I thought was not very subtle).
Because it turns out that they were demons,968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIfys1iDwFx
I could tell by the way their forked tail lashed in the long grass,968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4yxnDnb1zS
shifty eyes all yellow aglow, fogged up by some metaphors for misery,968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQPwGlcLPjP
or something.968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkcpO27i2xr
I certainly hadn’t been expecting THAT tonight, anyway,968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp9wtCGmXyq
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.968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡblJjzGJEVP
If you ever meet a demon, be nice. 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBKvLiANRN0
It had seemed random at the time.
I decided to have a little conversation,968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnJb9WdrV3V
you know, get to know them a bit.968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4oDTxB39Cg
With a soundtrack of crackling thunder-like booms 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdrzmqXttYi
and sparks of ether raining down in the night sky,968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSXGDaJH4Gg
I realised that actually, they maybe weren’t all that bad. 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0PZNZw8xrZ
They were eccentric, but good hearted, probably.968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcYpkLxakjS
You’re welcome to come around sometime,968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoFbvStsrLj
I said, at 84 Osborne street. 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWlqLdPGe8s
I channelled some literature; don’t bother knocking, 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIJyemREl4E
and they smiled, I think, a frowny smile, 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhrW2L2n7gk
and went back to their home, 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRsD3rO2hrC
flapping away into the clouds on black leathery wings 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs9ycF09svr
which reminded me of liquorice.
Later I found out that they’d been on their way968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ruDto9jfF
to feast on some lonely children968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPDSl65yVPa
but had gotten sidetracked by fireworks,968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMbabV8CEZZ
as you do.
The fireworks had ended already968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAQeO3MYCgf
by the time I made my way back to the sleigh I’d parked 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe4YhZpY3wJ
between a battered Toyota 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡViBTCQmjUQ
and a hulking four wheel drive.968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡunAvFWJ9yS
My eight kangaroos pulled me all the way back,968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVv9cWmNJwe
up and down office buildings,968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmf57LxUbZO
through the desert,968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOudJ07EJCr
around and around a roundabout (we got caught in the whirl)968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Cp8b1eodE
across a river, 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIZJPv5rwrU
over the milky way,
and then we pulled up on the lawn 968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIIEdMVGYVa
of my suburban house.968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPZthFVuUdt
Walking inside, I flopped face down, doll-like,968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1YoqunFPjv
and fell asleep on an old white mattress968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUWi8vOo4K1
under a fading southern cross.968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZz59gLFR0v
Happy Australia Day968Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnTaLflEh7A
