I took a shadow out on a date last night. 726Please respect copyright.PENANAKRvkk2th9w
We looked at each other with mutual understanding, 726Please respect copyright.PENANAI1goz3RHum
and on a picnic blanket nestled down to watch the fireworks.726Please respect copyright.PENANAuyZf4Zf5jj
The sun’s stain oozed around the edge of the horizon,726Please respect copyright.PENANATLRuEOmFPM
and suddenly my date was nothing more than some 726Please respect copyright.PENANArYwR5g3pcV
blurry silhouette726Please respect copyright.PENANAujjspg11Hz
like those weird purple-green blotches you see 726Please respect copyright.PENANAudUVNtbath
after staring at a bright light.726Please respect copyright.PENANAAhcd5SxTbg
Cold? I asked, but there was no answer, 726Please respect copyright.PENANACrtdjwExDV
and it hadn’t been a question anyway,726Please respect copyright.PENANAL45GSuohMf
but my date couldn’t care less about whether or not I wanted a blanket.726Please respect copyright.PENANAVLVlvISk5z
He was cold and unfeeling and barely there, 726Please respect copyright.PENANArflBI8BtDB
blotchy green and purple,726Please respect copyright.PENANAB09ldSL92P
fading every few seconds into the scenery, 726Please respect copyright.PENANAWhctvfJLZT
which wasn’t pleasant either, mainly rubbish and726Please respect copyright.PENANA2ewlbFvUW5
dead bushes.
The fireworks started, only to be interrupted halfway through by726Please respect copyright.PENANALjTO9khjCg
an Alien Invasion. It turned out okay though. 726Please respect copyright.PENANAAfZzoQEPru
Their spinning starcrafts had been driving past,726Please respect copyright.PENANAgqLsNAkHae
and they had only wanted to see the fireworks,726Please respect copyright.PENANAfEDSI4Xb8Y
so in true patriotic spirit we welcomed them. 726Please respect copyright.PENANA9BXIYx7bqf
How could any of us deny them such a simple wish726Please respect copyright.PENANAsZSWmmUGXu
on such a lovely humid sticky yukky night?726Please respect copyright.PENANAQDeQOFxVw9
Then some of the babies got scared of their glowy eyestalks, and started crying, 726Please respect copyright.PENANA0gjqaStkIa
so the aliens got moved to a cordoned section726Please respect copyright.PENANAdoPzIOAeam
which was for the good of everyone. 726Please respect copyright.PENANATXwUYaRs0N
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, 726Please respect copyright.PENANA3jwlCnzkmD
the shadow, 726Please respect copyright.PENANARcbrDZKXHS
in the chaos, 726Please respect copyright.PENANAGv3GSRZPXl
so I sat next to a little old lady726Please respect copyright.PENANAaSjs9nIQOp
and her grandson, and the evening got a hell of a lot weirder. 726Please respect copyright.PENANAHtCiuckUFZ
It did get more interesting, too, and726Please respect copyright.PENANAtxLBgp0EBZ
secretly, I thought it was probably a good thing 726Please respect copyright.PENANAUsVGJpTtNH
that the shadow had gotten left behind.726Please respect copyright.PENANA8K3q3ftikr
The little old lady then introduced herself as Connie, 726Please respect copyright.PENANA8Hxv3Chjew
which may have been short for something else,726Please respect copyright.PENANAocqo4jdgoA
and her grandson as Other Demons726Please respect copyright.PENANAiZ8VmKqPBm
(which I thought was not very subtle).
Because it turns out that they were demons,726Please respect copyright.PENANAk4vqADkGtp
I could tell by the way their forked tail lashed in the long grass,726Please respect copyright.PENANAOm2uIC9Cxa
shifty eyes all yellow aglow, fogged up by some metaphors for misery,726Please respect copyright.PENANAZhWkj8mYD4
or something.726Please respect copyright.PENANAbxH6FZ4ghQ
I certainly hadn’t been expecting THAT tonight, anyway,726Please respect copyright.PENANAL7Ns40ipTX
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.726Please respect copyright.PENANAMaIYFn3rwY
If you ever meet a demon, be nice. 726Please respect copyright.PENANAYhZ2yM22My
It had seemed random at the time.
I decided to have a little conversation,726Please respect copyright.PENANA7a6bBvgaSY
you know, get to know them a bit.726Please respect copyright.PENANAUWiFq5epuD
With a soundtrack of crackling thunder-like booms 726Please respect copyright.PENANAeFXZpDdaNV
and sparks of ether raining down in the night sky,726Please respect copyright.PENANAlx6cI6AdIo
I realised that actually, they maybe weren’t all that bad. 726Please respect copyright.PENANAD49Tp98rtH
They were eccentric, but good hearted, probably.726Please respect copyright.PENANA8OpoMALCdc
You’re welcome to come around sometime,726Please respect copyright.PENANANJQu4XVzEj
I said, at 84 Osborne street. 726Please respect copyright.PENANAd5gThduuFO
I channelled some literature; don’t bother knocking, 726Please respect copyright.PENANAEeAVHwNFcj
and they smiled, I think, a frowny smile, 726Please respect copyright.PENANATqpeNeeRZF
and went back to their home, 726Please respect copyright.PENANAuQ9h7JEP1t
flapping away into the clouds on black leathery wings 726Please respect copyright.PENANAkY6TLlyVtE
which reminded me of liquorice.
Later I found out that they’d been on their way726Please respect copyright.PENANAyIXr6KvWWD
to feast on some lonely children726Please respect copyright.PENANACdDYzNbND7
but had gotten sidetracked by fireworks,726Please respect copyright.PENANA0xb2JCoDHV
as you do.
The fireworks had ended already726Please respect copyright.PENANAge7VaDGRiz
by the time I made my way back to the sleigh I’d parked 726Please respect copyright.PENANAm5x1GIKJ8g
between a battered Toyota 726Please respect copyright.PENANA1VAfKiPii1
and a hulking four wheel drive.726Please respect copyright.PENANAmZ41Fy4GBh
My eight kangaroos pulled me all the way back,726Please respect copyright.PENANAJhcFb7jcbD
up and down office buildings,726Please respect copyright.PENANAW1XKPzQ1J9
through the desert,726Please respect copyright.PENANA730yaorZJv
around and around a roundabout (we got caught in the whirl)726Please respect copyright.PENANA2PgncAJeFA
across a river, 726Please respect copyright.PENANA2UrYZIVC5N
over the milky way,
and then we pulled up on the lawn 726Please respect copyright.PENANAyIQX6UDN5T
of my suburban house.726Please respect copyright.PENANANDr4nwiXg3
Walking inside, I flopped face down, doll-like,726Please respect copyright.PENANAhiKWOP7JQq
and fell asleep on an old white mattress726Please respect copyright.PENANAHbpBKPl7FR
under a fading southern cross.726Please respect copyright.PENANAJESFkyZCVa
Happy Australia Day726Please respect copyright.PENANAuOLTlrBPuo