I took a shadow out on a date last night. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJnmO7UvHDB
We looked at each other with mutual understanding, 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkWGbF4MxhL
and on a picnic blanket nestled down to watch the fireworks.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCj3RjEQpkt
The sun’s stain oozed around the edge of the horizon,940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPtkrCzUfrP
and suddenly my date was nothing more than some 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡooLqwqjIL3
blurry silhouette940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWlvdZ226l4
like those weird purple-green blotches you see 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb2bkG62Exf
after staring at a bright light.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVoPtAXOrbb
Cold? I asked, but there was no answer, 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ08ah1PE2mB
and it hadn’t been a question anyway,940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWLF3jcRDiY
but my date couldn’t care less about whether or not I wanted a blanket.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkaffJWN4q3
He was cold and unfeeling and barely there, 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRzrzlvnrnc
blotchy green and purple,940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtpmtBVOEYw
fading every few seconds into the scenery, 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbPSI0OUN3k
which wasn’t pleasant either, mainly rubbish and940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU9CDbUU2Rp
dead bushes.
The fireworks started, only to be interrupted halfway through by940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpDd1y7zKMq
an Alien Invasion. It turned out okay though. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDms5xLzSOX
Their spinning starcrafts had been driving past,940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsnxODQa7Ek
and they had only wanted to see the fireworks,940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZCJMiM0rLR
so in true patriotic spirit we welcomed them. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUvqL3ezOBe
How could any of us deny them such a simple wish940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡajOdfKjEVw
on such a lovely humid sticky yukky night?940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU16lnnjMNh
Then some of the babies got scared of their glowy eyestalks, and started crying, 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbe5y038ZGP
so the aliens got moved to a cordoned section940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM6yuzHxfr8
which was for the good of everyone. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQO23KeJyW2
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, 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHfLyifq8MN
the shadow, 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWkkilOk3Qs
in the chaos, 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYnOHWnxhvi
so I sat next to a little old lady940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXLqxjLReRA
and her grandson, and the evening got a hell of a lot weirder. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyOapovOw67
It did get more interesting, too, and940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQBD9xzU08S
secretly, I thought it was probably a good thing 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo7jBegbHXu
that the shadow had gotten left behind.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2LKptOwizh
The little old lady then introduced herself as Connie, 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyzypbFpoFA
which may have been short for something else,940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkZrMnTHATa
and her grandson as Other Demons940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeobzN4Hi3x
(which I thought was not very subtle).
Because it turns out that they were demons,940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXYf1XkMAEc
I could tell by the way their forked tail lashed in the long grass,940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡekp9LavkPW
shifty eyes all yellow aglow, fogged up by some metaphors for misery,940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8VzRiIvz1q
or something.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZMR8UabNsv
I certainly hadn’t been expecting THAT tonight, anyway,940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡirAyNwKDtX
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.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZYegcJjbNU
If you ever meet a demon, be nice. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSqcrud7v79
It had seemed random at the time.
I decided to have a little conversation,940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP4uszPJzPB
you know, get to know them a bit.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ59CQ0DHiap
With a soundtrack of crackling thunder-like booms 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkovslB3d3L
and sparks of ether raining down in the night sky,940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzCmMiCDwZv
I realised that actually, they maybe weren’t all that bad. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXtaHAotO0y
They were eccentric, but good hearted, probably.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiaEjSAvWlM
You’re welcome to come around sometime,940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGrmfMxRgKU
I said, at 84 Osborne street. 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC8e3uPRPBP
I channelled some literature; don’t bother knocking, 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMq0sPkG9Ab
and they smiled, I think, a frowny smile, 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRf96dU3wfD
and went back to their home, 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn7QZtM457w
flapping away into the clouds on black leathery wings 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2VIpSYatmx
which reminded me of liquorice.
Later I found out that they’d been on their way940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3oVdWcB9Z7
to feast on some lonely children940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSk2aBDhANR
but had gotten sidetracked by fireworks,940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPObVSvHs5G
as you do.
The fireworks had ended already940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmkbg7u6Rfi
by the time I made my way back to the sleigh I’d parked 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUw77qKRcwb
between a battered Toyota 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcF8j8BJDPO
and a hulking four wheel drive.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMwtma6a0lv
My eight kangaroos pulled me all the way back,940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZpGAEtJyof
up and down office buildings,940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgkiYx2Jpht
through the desert,940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY9HfdKO0QC
around and around a roundabout (we got caught in the whirl)940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrPFKWVnaDR
across a river, 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxgfkjPW8wq
over the milky way,
and then we pulled up on the lawn 940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPuNPpVjR45
of my suburban house.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx6ubGrXtUg
Walking inside, I flopped face down, doll-like,940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGn13sGGt8S
and fell asleep on an old white mattress940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqUI2mI4LE1
under a fading southern cross.940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡylvqpGVL2W
Happy Australia Day940Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBCTH6UbjP4
