I took a shadow out on a date last night. 723Please respect copyright.PENANAbBo3ihVi26
We looked at each other with mutual understanding, 723Please respect copyright.PENANAHO04fcdlWn
and on a picnic blanket nestled down to watch the fireworks.723Please respect copyright.PENANAcqOkhub9qP
The sun’s stain oozed around the edge of the horizon,723Please respect copyright.PENANAYVOmJag5dr
and suddenly my date was nothing more than some 723Please respect copyright.PENANAsmRIr0m2O1
blurry silhouette723Please respect copyright.PENANA6D3JX0m8VQ
like those weird purple-green blotches you see 723Please respect copyright.PENANA0uzPI7kzWP
after staring at a bright light.723Please respect copyright.PENANAVd2W2vjWDS
Cold? I asked, but there was no answer, 723Please respect copyright.PENANA7zbBdysmXj
and it hadn’t been a question anyway,723Please respect copyright.PENANA2CRf9zb1aH
but my date couldn’t care less about whether or not I wanted a blanket.723Please respect copyright.PENANAtehRtWYa9u
He was cold and unfeeling and barely there, 723Please respect copyright.PENANABHa8qRcNTn
blotchy green and purple,723Please respect copyright.PENANAXKvNAloFYr
fading every few seconds into the scenery, 723Please respect copyright.PENANABI1aojY1KG
which wasn’t pleasant either, mainly rubbish and723Please respect copyright.PENANA6L8kSBr3fl
dead bushes.
The fireworks started, only to be interrupted halfway through by723Please respect copyright.PENANAxt898Ffq5c
an Alien Invasion. It turned out okay though. 723Please respect copyright.PENANAdrNzqYYl91
Their spinning starcrafts had been driving past,723Please respect copyright.PENANAvs8hddogE3
and they had only wanted to see the fireworks,723Please respect copyright.PENANA6MMFuqZX5n
so in true patriotic spirit we welcomed them. 723Please respect copyright.PENANAzv0yT4gvqW
How could any of us deny them such a simple wish723Please respect copyright.PENANAMUi1iZnR4s
on such a lovely humid sticky yukky night?723Please respect copyright.PENANAerNp2cKpVK
Then some of the babies got scared of their glowy eyestalks, and started crying, 723Please respect copyright.PENANAecBvucsi8M
so the aliens got moved to a cordoned section723Please respect copyright.PENANAbhiIUfHzkc
which was for the good of everyone. 723Please respect copyright.PENANAFgOEZ3qsRB
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, 723Please respect copyright.PENANAVR3VUl0U6H
the shadow, 723Please respect copyright.PENANAiNR8R59E3F
in the chaos, 723Please respect copyright.PENANABk8VvAAnVB
so I sat next to a little old lady723Please respect copyright.PENANAjIDUeCz1hn
and her grandson, and the evening got a hell of a lot weirder. 723Please respect copyright.PENANAgyGwBMIgnp
It did get more interesting, too, and723Please respect copyright.PENANALBGqz1en3K
secretly, I thought it was probably a good thing 723Please respect copyright.PENANAbi1Pfmgc4F
that the shadow had gotten left behind.723Please respect copyright.PENANATeipdIDYvq
The little old lady then introduced herself as Connie, 723Please respect copyright.PENANAdL8mctJqwx
which may have been short for something else,723Please respect copyright.PENANAMPsVLHPjrp
and her grandson as Other Demons723Please respect copyright.PENANA6lHyXwKGyQ
(which I thought was not very subtle).
Because it turns out that they were demons,723Please respect copyright.PENANAfmfhzukJBw
I could tell by the way their forked tail lashed in the long grass,723Please respect copyright.PENANAst0psoEvx6
shifty eyes all yellow aglow, fogged up by some metaphors for misery,723Please respect copyright.PENANA2MHTelXqow
or something.723Please respect copyright.PENANAJOnwhnsB4P
I certainly hadn’t been expecting THAT tonight, anyway,723Please respect copyright.PENANAC4r0jZaoi0
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.723Please respect copyright.PENANA5fMz3BcCBN
If you ever meet a demon, be nice. 723Please respect copyright.PENANARyvaUxVUEz
It had seemed random at the time.
I decided to have a little conversation,723Please respect copyright.PENANAZ60Z9ngDXN
you know, get to know them a bit.723Please respect copyright.PENANAZJLyx8ZWQi
With a soundtrack of crackling thunder-like booms 723Please respect copyright.PENANAbS5Gb6Ro72
and sparks of ether raining down in the night sky,723Please respect copyright.PENANA1ymiUycErO
I realised that actually, they maybe weren’t all that bad. 723Please respect copyright.PENANAOlx32ZNcKR
They were eccentric, but good hearted, probably.723Please respect copyright.PENANAgGfyIvvtRW
You’re welcome to come around sometime,723Please respect copyright.PENANAuSdTrVEdnM
I said, at 84 Osborne street. 723Please respect copyright.PENANARINf9JUaie
I channelled some literature; don’t bother knocking, 723Please respect copyright.PENANAHq4wcwnS59
and they smiled, I think, a frowny smile, 723Please respect copyright.PENANACXO58c5fVN
and went back to their home, 723Please respect copyright.PENANAwQRoj3zDxq
flapping away into the clouds on black leathery wings 723Please respect copyright.PENANA7nz14AK0Ac
which reminded me of liquorice.
Later I found out that they’d been on their way723Please respect copyright.PENANAlINHwN6p4o
to feast on some lonely children723Please respect copyright.PENANApXNMG05Qmw
but had gotten sidetracked by fireworks,723Please respect copyright.PENANANEoVhaGY3P
as you do.
The fireworks had ended already723Please respect copyright.PENANA4FLNjmTquN
by the time I made my way back to the sleigh I’d parked 723Please respect copyright.PENANAnROUz2dNEk
between a battered Toyota 723Please respect copyright.PENANAVPc12EZ2j9
and a hulking four wheel drive.723Please respect copyright.PENANAKDMSueEygJ
My eight kangaroos pulled me all the way back,723Please respect copyright.PENANA2xPj66kPAj
up and down office buildings,723Please respect copyright.PENANAR5JX858PYS
through the desert,723Please respect copyright.PENANADFJ9vVFL2i
around and around a roundabout (we got caught in the whirl)723Please respect copyright.PENANAYvDZz4HjxZ
across a river, 723Please respect copyright.PENANApwhT4wjnyM
over the milky way,
and then we pulled up on the lawn 723Please respect copyright.PENANAaQDrXd62aH
of my suburban house.723Please respect copyright.PENANAm9q9sNUZbx
Walking inside, I flopped face down, doll-like,723Please respect copyright.PENANAyQlcQvqmYF
and fell asleep on an old white mattress723Please respect copyright.PENANAQCsZAoP3Lg
under a fading southern cross.723Please respect copyright.PENANAx06uIYVGBY
Happy Australia Day723Please respect copyright.PENANAFVzf6Urg9M