I took a shadow out on a date last night. 710Please respect copyright.PENANABps4Ub5AWn
We looked at each other with mutual understanding, 710Please respect copyright.PENANAFf5eCgKqGV
and on a picnic blanket nestled down to watch the fireworks.710Please respect copyright.PENANA6cOb0eJuiJ
The sun’s stain oozed around the edge of the horizon,710Please respect copyright.PENANAiQUBVhNSyz
and suddenly my date was nothing more than some 710Please respect copyright.PENANAGWcPLzf6RW
blurry silhouette710Please respect copyright.PENANA6keK1ynt0t
like those weird purple-green blotches you see 710Please respect copyright.PENANAfhPbldR4xn
after staring at a bright light.710Please respect copyright.PENANAgNfg3oxFSW
Cold? I asked, but there was no answer, 710Please respect copyright.PENANAvWw1k3g14W
and it hadn’t been a question anyway,710Please respect copyright.PENANAa0Ye7yosgS
but my date couldn’t care less about whether or not I wanted a blanket.710Please respect copyright.PENANAWD7pgC58PK
He was cold and unfeeling and barely there, 710Please respect copyright.PENANAGkORdf37YP
blotchy green and purple,710Please respect copyright.PENANAKfoWjE4OL0
fading every few seconds into the scenery, 710Please respect copyright.PENANAKBZlVDMiOX
which wasn’t pleasant either, mainly rubbish and710Please respect copyright.PENANAso6QoWAPXy
dead bushes.
The fireworks started, only to be interrupted halfway through by710Please respect copyright.PENANAiSi9HMsbWg
an Alien Invasion. It turned out okay though. 710Please respect copyright.PENANAdqhYcR1dKi
Their spinning starcrafts had been driving past,710Please respect copyright.PENANAavkxdtDqop
and they had only wanted to see the fireworks,710Please respect copyright.PENANAHtzkX5liTq
so in true patriotic spirit we welcomed them. 710Please respect copyright.PENANAdF7bpmWgBj
How could any of us deny them such a simple wish710Please respect copyright.PENANAZN88SlGGFb
on such a lovely humid sticky yukky night?710Please respect copyright.PENANAZtNNSlna41
Then some of the babies got scared of their glowy eyestalks, and started crying, 710Please respect copyright.PENANAjtKhQAHdiG
so the aliens got moved to a cordoned section710Please respect copyright.PENANAQiHUVv10pk
which was for the good of everyone. 710Please respect copyright.PENANA0Ks9waikoa
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, 710Please respect copyright.PENANAyvcGaedS7G
the shadow, 710Please respect copyright.PENANAIM4Ad2LolR
in the chaos, 710Please respect copyright.PENANAB7iE0kSL3I
so I sat next to a little old lady710Please respect copyright.PENANAtdlqjAJ5Kj
and her grandson, and the evening got a hell of a lot weirder. 710Please respect copyright.PENANAGcWPwCfgYU
It did get more interesting, too, and710Please respect copyright.PENANA9FQoHTKKu5
secretly, I thought it was probably a good thing 710Please respect copyright.PENANAzG7OgDc6QX
that the shadow had gotten left behind.710Please respect copyright.PENANArl5yUs6PgD
The little old lady then introduced herself as Connie, 710Please respect copyright.PENANAMJsYe6PcvN
which may have been short for something else,710Please respect copyright.PENANAb6DodZRzrH
and her grandson as Other Demons710Please respect copyright.PENANAZYOFZpgyWm
(which I thought was not very subtle).
Because it turns out that they were demons,710Please respect copyright.PENANAGKvVDcCYja
I could tell by the way their forked tail lashed in the long grass,710Please respect copyright.PENANAguDi4slj9O
shifty eyes all yellow aglow, fogged up by some metaphors for misery,710Please respect copyright.PENANADIE8Lx75F5
or something.710Please respect copyright.PENANAklDS7yi8XZ
I certainly hadn’t been expecting THAT tonight, anyway,710Please respect copyright.PENANAPTNNO0qY5k
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.710Please respect copyright.PENANAvuRlX8kL95
If you ever meet a demon, be nice. 710Please respect copyright.PENANAnbdvvTBcRw
It had seemed random at the time.
I decided to have a little conversation,710Please respect copyright.PENANALmenhIpLcx
you know, get to know them a bit.710Please respect copyright.PENANAr8BgbMvm6B
With a soundtrack of crackling thunder-like booms 710Please respect copyright.PENANAgPSx4J9J4p
and sparks of ether raining down in the night sky,710Please respect copyright.PENANALis7lq17SO
I realised that actually, they maybe weren’t all that bad. 710Please respect copyright.PENANAbAqHaQqAT9
They were eccentric, but good hearted, probably.710Please respect copyright.PENANANv3q68PSy4
You’re welcome to come around sometime,710Please respect copyright.PENANAfrEjtdWaub
I said, at 84 Osborne street. 710Please respect copyright.PENANA11SyXkEbL4
I channelled some literature; don’t bother knocking, 710Please respect copyright.PENANA2xFysZJq74
and they smiled, I think, a frowny smile, 710Please respect copyright.PENANA4qnxEqbTlG
and went back to their home, 710Please respect copyright.PENANAxX1O25aetL
flapping away into the clouds on black leathery wings 710Please respect copyright.PENANAUMIB17EXwR
which reminded me of liquorice.
Later I found out that they’d been on their way710Please respect copyright.PENANAgYsDFXSV5e
to feast on some lonely children710Please respect copyright.PENANAVoi3yytZh6
but had gotten sidetracked by fireworks,710Please respect copyright.PENANAONYVKE6X5J
as you do.
The fireworks had ended already710Please respect copyright.PENANAJVAVp33kPr
by the time I made my way back to the sleigh I’d parked 710Please respect copyright.PENANAReF0RyReij
between a battered Toyota 710Please respect copyright.PENANAt44xy3NVGU
and a hulking four wheel drive.710Please respect copyright.PENANAcV1lt2H7h2
My eight kangaroos pulled me all the way back,710Please respect copyright.PENANAya4QJlxO2C
up and down office buildings,710Please respect copyright.PENANAQJEjP2fXaC
through the desert,710Please respect copyright.PENANA6GPmrY2YYb
around and around a roundabout (we got caught in the whirl)710Please respect copyright.PENANAu9I58GJUtU
across a river, 710Please respect copyright.PENANAguVQYu3QJB
over the milky way,
and then we pulled up on the lawn 710Please respect copyright.PENANA7HYmsogNdH
of my suburban house.710Please respect copyright.PENANAz8ANunYLqj
Walking inside, I flopped face down, doll-like,710Please respect copyright.PENANA17K2Qe7dDR
and fell asleep on an old white mattress710Please respect copyright.PENANAdwDFVZFk6I
under a fading southern cross.710Please respect copyright.PENANAW6XAGY5wA6
Happy Australia Day710Please respect copyright.PENANAVpA4cBsBc7