I took a shadow out on a date last night. 709Please respect copyright.PENANAMbcZ02Gv1v
We looked at each other with mutual understanding, 709Please respect copyright.PENANAdrVJWCkMLx
and on a picnic blanket nestled down to watch the fireworks.709Please respect copyright.PENANAZUr1G12GD6
The sun’s stain oozed around the edge of the horizon,709Please respect copyright.PENANAgjSg4Cppkr
and suddenly my date was nothing more than some 709Please respect copyright.PENANAi9P7ciObxT
blurry silhouette709Please respect copyright.PENANAAWT5OsY97C
like those weird purple-green blotches you see 709Please respect copyright.PENANAJikwpyXBdC
after staring at a bright light.709Please respect copyright.PENANAoDU2DzDUHq
Cold? I asked, but there was no answer, 709Please respect copyright.PENANAQBafC18gFf
and it hadn’t been a question anyway,709Please respect copyright.PENANAKsCeuYLl5v
but my date couldn’t care less about whether or not I wanted a blanket.709Please respect copyright.PENANAGZIf7xxxf9
He was cold and unfeeling and barely there, 709Please respect copyright.PENANAQFHXWmARY1
blotchy green and purple,709Please respect copyright.PENANAi2FFleQdny
fading every few seconds into the scenery, 709Please respect copyright.PENANAvdy89gO6Yk
which wasn’t pleasant either, mainly rubbish and709Please respect copyright.PENANAW5BLlna0Pe
dead bushes.
The fireworks started, only to be interrupted halfway through by709Please respect copyright.PENANAEZBrFcdTx8
an Alien Invasion. It turned out okay though. 709Please respect copyright.PENANAJFygHFPhXU
Their spinning starcrafts had been driving past,709Please respect copyright.PENANAkMeR7XDlr0
and they had only wanted to see the fireworks,709Please respect copyright.PENANAqNtzzcf1b6
so in true patriotic spirit we welcomed them. 709Please respect copyright.PENANATnbPWBP88O
How could any of us deny them such a simple wish709Please respect copyright.PENANAodK4w4ksUd
on such a lovely humid sticky yukky night?709Please respect copyright.PENANAEfqtT9eqUX
Then some of the babies got scared of their glowy eyestalks, and started crying, 709Please respect copyright.PENANAw71alGem0c
so the aliens got moved to a cordoned section709Please respect copyright.PENANAsDSxHVKkDF
which was for the good of everyone. 709Please respect copyright.PENANARVQkkxLfCY
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, 709Please respect copyright.PENANAAM0IVMOnDr
the shadow, 709Please respect copyright.PENANARWB7e4HeuG
in the chaos, 709Please respect copyright.PENANA0gJgEWcCzo
so I sat next to a little old lady709Please respect copyright.PENANASnnsQYZcqL
and her grandson, and the evening got a hell of a lot weirder. 709Please respect copyright.PENANAqM783lvl3Z
It did get more interesting, too, and709Please respect copyright.PENANA8YFvlR57kX
secretly, I thought it was probably a good thing 709Please respect copyright.PENANAgbyaAthW59
that the shadow had gotten left behind.709Please respect copyright.PENANAfIiAYUd7ne
The little old lady then introduced herself as Connie, 709Please respect copyright.PENANAaxsya1M0bh
which may have been short for something else,709Please respect copyright.PENANAGanRtqPMcu
and her grandson as Other Demons709Please respect copyright.PENANAEyYgPg49aT
(which I thought was not very subtle).
Because it turns out that they were demons,709Please respect copyright.PENANACE15lFgWdE
I could tell by the way their forked tail lashed in the long grass,709Please respect copyright.PENANA4uKaQnd5RS
shifty eyes all yellow aglow, fogged up by some metaphors for misery,709Please respect copyright.PENANAdw4hUHMY3n
or something.709Please respect copyright.PENANASahqC8wWzR
I certainly hadn’t been expecting THAT tonight, anyway,709Please respect copyright.PENANAr2uoYAlIaq
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.709Please respect copyright.PENANAvD2XJ16v7e
If you ever meet a demon, be nice. 709Please respect copyright.PENANArY3wGdMuGO
It had seemed random at the time.
I decided to have a little conversation,709Please respect copyright.PENANAu4oEnOMrVf
you know, get to know them a bit.709Please respect copyright.PENANAd1vmJ9qX5U
With a soundtrack of crackling thunder-like booms 709Please respect copyright.PENANApL5vBa8v6y
and sparks of ether raining down in the night sky,709Please respect copyright.PENANA4JpYTqRdh6
I realised that actually, they maybe weren’t all that bad. 709Please respect copyright.PENANAoE1jhaWHGR
They were eccentric, but good hearted, probably.709Please respect copyright.PENANAJ8yvxqKtRq
You’re welcome to come around sometime,709Please respect copyright.PENANAu8SXWPXQaR
I said, at 84 Osborne street. 709Please respect copyright.PENANAnFZC9qJqmv
I channelled some literature; don’t bother knocking, 709Please respect copyright.PENANAtjaxCE7ylS
and they smiled, I think, a frowny smile, 709Please respect copyright.PENANA0oUfmNfKo6
and went back to their home, 709Please respect copyright.PENANApCyRZALbq1
flapping away into the clouds on black leathery wings 709Please respect copyright.PENANAfNG9t0bGhX
which reminded me of liquorice.
Later I found out that they’d been on their way709Please respect copyright.PENANAbB9zUyWX3P
to feast on some lonely children709Please respect copyright.PENANA46RmEWQZMP
but had gotten sidetracked by fireworks,709Please respect copyright.PENANAsrQGhEOUlr
as you do.
The fireworks had ended already709Please respect copyright.PENANA4lbep0n65D
by the time I made my way back to the sleigh I’d parked 709Please respect copyright.PENANAnkhiSaa72h
between a battered Toyota 709Please respect copyright.PENANAQHTuCHoqcw
and a hulking four wheel drive.709Please respect copyright.PENANAh8c45lqiVZ
My eight kangaroos pulled me all the way back,709Please respect copyright.PENANAmvu8UY1Exx
up and down office buildings,709Please respect copyright.PENANAfYfDLgeW9L
through the desert,709Please respect copyright.PENANA8wAWSbwsPV
around and around a roundabout (we got caught in the whirl)709Please respect copyright.PENANAKGptc023FI
across a river, 709Please respect copyright.PENANAADXhPvc4ou
over the milky way,
and then we pulled up on the lawn 709Please respect copyright.PENANAYQZ3tgtgOJ
of my suburban house.709Please respect copyright.PENANAPdyYwRpgTj
Walking inside, I flopped face down, doll-like,709Please respect copyright.PENANAhGjVMVtM9k
and fell asleep on an old white mattress709Please respect copyright.PENANAIdUgiFrvKt
under a fading southern cross.709Please respect copyright.PENANAQZac1YfIOd
Happy Australia Day709Please respect copyright.PENANAirtELpVGxh