I took a shadow out on a date last night. 701Please respect copyright.PENANAuIJn27gClI
We looked at each other with mutual understanding, 701Please respect copyright.PENANAjCjVbV6R1b
and on a picnic blanket nestled down to watch the fireworks.701Please respect copyright.PENANANtGjykzQsy
The sun’s stain oozed around the edge of the horizon,701Please respect copyright.PENANAkgUYZ2ILny
and suddenly my date was nothing more than some 701Please respect copyright.PENANAm9HkqF5dyc
blurry silhouette701Please respect copyright.PENANADTAk77lnm6
like those weird purple-green blotches you see 701Please respect copyright.PENANAehhMQ5Fehq
after staring at a bright light.701Please respect copyright.PENANARB5yF4kfRu
Cold? I asked, but there was no answer, 701Please respect copyright.PENANAB0g6ISDbIc
and it hadn’t been a question anyway,701Please respect copyright.PENANApktqSJClXA
but my date couldn’t care less about whether or not I wanted a blanket.701Please respect copyright.PENANACA0ejkdQbw
He was cold and unfeeling and barely there, 701Please respect copyright.PENANAKQrM0N6Wue
blotchy green and purple,701Please respect copyright.PENANASQkCLf5XeK
fading every few seconds into the scenery, 701Please respect copyright.PENANAxzlMXhawPL
which wasn’t pleasant either, mainly rubbish and701Please respect copyright.PENANApHSmAZkynt
dead bushes.
The fireworks started, only to be interrupted halfway through by701Please respect copyright.PENANANh1222xLmp
an Alien Invasion. It turned out okay though. 701Please respect copyright.PENANAAkbzk96v5Z
Their spinning starcrafts had been driving past,701Please respect copyright.PENANA90n47kCTCi
and they had only wanted to see the fireworks,701Please respect copyright.PENANAjMQVANkVDK
so in true patriotic spirit we welcomed them. 701Please respect copyright.PENANANr43Z3Y0UX
How could any of us deny them such a simple wish701Please respect copyright.PENANAmnSUIXzDGY
on such a lovely humid sticky yukky night?701Please respect copyright.PENANAwKTXE4anUZ
Then some of the babies got scared of their glowy eyestalks, and started crying, 701Please respect copyright.PENANAH5ntTrzQ0M
so the aliens got moved to a cordoned section701Please respect copyright.PENANAOVO4KwyAQD
which was for the good of everyone. 701Please respect copyright.PENANAzfSXdoedah
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, 701Please respect copyright.PENANAhT7N3a7H8P
the shadow, 701Please respect copyright.PENANAUfFGculsHg
in the chaos, 701Please respect copyright.PENANAqeTVKXWH3Y
so I sat next to a little old lady701Please respect copyright.PENANAwTiybFMdQj
and her grandson, and the evening got a hell of a lot weirder. 701Please respect copyright.PENANA6xluOGYANo
It did get more interesting, too, and701Please respect copyright.PENANAz7diZISrTT
secretly, I thought it was probably a good thing 701Please respect copyright.PENANAjEDmZNue9W
that the shadow had gotten left behind.701Please respect copyright.PENANA9VTR4M1Ajw
The little old lady then introduced herself as Connie, 701Please respect copyright.PENANAo7AwqfsiDU
which may have been short for something else,701Please respect copyright.PENANACw4xa08hHw
and her grandson as Other Demons701Please respect copyright.PENANAxHPAK05Qfc
(which I thought was not very subtle).
Because it turns out that they were demons,701Please respect copyright.PENANAeRKaGmm2Bl
I could tell by the way their forked tail lashed in the long grass,701Please respect copyright.PENANAUs9LC9ha0J
shifty eyes all yellow aglow, fogged up by some metaphors for misery,701Please respect copyright.PENANA1FjfluanGV
or something.701Please respect copyright.PENANA8DcdsrZDjC
I certainly hadn’t been expecting THAT tonight, anyway,701Please respect copyright.PENANAn2miae1IQe
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.701Please respect copyright.PENANAlHRlXceerW
If you ever meet a demon, be nice. 701Please respect copyright.PENANAnXvvqKRL9G
It had seemed random at the time.
I decided to have a little conversation,701Please respect copyright.PENANAzCU7aV6E27
you know, get to know them a bit.701Please respect copyright.PENANAoo7w5mFniA
With a soundtrack of crackling thunder-like booms 701Please respect copyright.PENANAleKiPanfwj
and sparks of ether raining down in the night sky,701Please respect copyright.PENANAj5VpiMC4Dx
I realised that actually, they maybe weren’t all that bad. 701Please respect copyright.PENANAY9wiRJUsaE
They were eccentric, but good hearted, probably.701Please respect copyright.PENANARSDcyvNAK2
You’re welcome to come around sometime,701Please respect copyright.PENANApwsDVp2Z7a
I said, at 84 Osborne street. 701Please respect copyright.PENANAy27BjvFJg9
I channelled some literature; don’t bother knocking, 701Please respect copyright.PENANAOj73KNi6GI
and they smiled, I think, a frowny smile, 701Please respect copyright.PENANAl1q9SQYlmF
and went back to their home, 701Please respect copyright.PENANAYXTvINqvNn
flapping away into the clouds on black leathery wings 701Please respect copyright.PENANASchFj47Wdb
which reminded me of liquorice.
Later I found out that they’d been on their way701Please respect copyright.PENANA5cWnGxTQXj
to feast on some lonely children701Please respect copyright.PENANAwOsPY3YkF8
but had gotten sidetracked by fireworks,701Please respect copyright.PENANAhIWW6agvjP
as you do.
The fireworks had ended already701Please respect copyright.PENANAwj4qCAsto5
by the time I made my way back to the sleigh I’d parked 701Please respect copyright.PENANATIpKpmnXMY
between a battered Toyota 701Please respect copyright.PENANAtT9PueIvDy
and a hulking four wheel drive.701Please respect copyright.PENANAKXSOKE5M0o
My eight kangaroos pulled me all the way back,701Please respect copyright.PENANAb8NLh81lL8
up and down office buildings,701Please respect copyright.PENANAR2PvycROHC
through the desert,701Please respect copyright.PENANAaTtH29vsjq
around and around a roundabout (we got caught in the whirl)701Please respect copyright.PENANAJPcBxMgZ1R
across a river, 701Please respect copyright.PENANAYecoOG84Cd
over the milky way,
and then we pulled up on the lawn 701Please respect copyright.PENANA8PT9uSLLIq
of my suburban house.701Please respect copyright.PENANARJpE1qtwaN
Walking inside, I flopped face down, doll-like,701Please respect copyright.PENANAkKwasb86YV
and fell asleep on an old white mattress701Please respect copyright.PENANAZcFCXn8lZe
under a fading southern cross.701Please respect copyright.PENANA6mnAmuSE3v
Happy Australia Day701Please respect copyright.PENANA74UOqmxD4l