I took a shadow out on a date last night. 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfGjMrGwvxl
We looked at each other with mutual understanding, 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOP8D0TaAjw
and on a picnic blanket nestled down to watch the fireworks.920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEqwUMF0QT8
The sun’s stain oozed around the edge of the horizon,920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx4oULdVHN4
and suddenly my date was nothing more than some 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMZ3Nex2GJF
blurry silhouette920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz3FWFPGEKA
like those weird purple-green blotches you see 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfQTfVwNuNV
after staring at a bright light.920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡevTaZe50tw
Cold? I asked, but there was no answer, 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyY8EqN0g5W
and it hadn’t been a question anyway,920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0SdF1yUMso
but my date couldn’t care less about whether or not I wanted a blanket.920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrogK7YFP8A
He was cold and unfeeling and barely there, 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwXNuP4AUJY
blotchy green and purple,920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdzCxjq1BH2
fading every few seconds into the scenery, 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYGctcv1kUv
which wasn’t pleasant either, mainly rubbish and920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡilGfHdMWn5
dead bushes.
The fireworks started, only to be interrupted halfway through by920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv10jklm0DQ
an Alien Invasion. It turned out okay though. 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFz7zkZ1mof
Their spinning starcrafts had been driving past,920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc9Rbka5IlZ
and they had only wanted to see the fireworks,920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJqGUv7QU8t
so in true patriotic spirit we welcomed them. 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsM1O5TuYDs
How could any of us deny them such a simple wish920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzz4xMZy4HQ
on such a lovely humid sticky yukky night?920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD4eCnP3QfP
Then some of the babies got scared of their glowy eyestalks, and started crying, 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxmuWFm459u
so the aliens got moved to a cordoned section920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKbZ7jOxpDH
which was for the good of everyone. 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgoMwmxjtoY
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, 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdpvs5Nfy24
the shadow, 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlE2hZkudGF
in the chaos, 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtiGT9xCxm1
so I sat next to a little old lady920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxYVjwomyGI
and her grandson, and the evening got a hell of a lot weirder. 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbTwF38hN6U
It did get more interesting, too, and920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRCHmviysW0
secretly, I thought it was probably a good thing 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz29Tai5rHU
that the shadow had gotten left behind.920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIAQjLZA11V
The little old lady then introduced herself as Connie, 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡipF3uAwKWd
which may have been short for something else,920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMKdtUxj0sY
and her grandson as Other Demons920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1EUL0BWFl2
(which I thought was not very subtle).
Because it turns out that they were demons,920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2fF70CbIzF
I could tell by the way their forked tail lashed in the long grass,920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡijNXVCOC7i
shifty eyes all yellow aglow, fogged up by some metaphors for misery,920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGSZzRVMURL
or something.920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2N6awKRhks
I certainly hadn’t been expecting THAT tonight, anyway,920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT8Ps19Qnfl
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.920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPxWTzn26IR
If you ever meet a demon, be nice. 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsUkwoZsSaU
It had seemed random at the time.
I decided to have a little conversation,920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpBE3mhkeAA
you know, get to know them a bit.920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ84DC9NMCpU
With a soundtrack of crackling thunder-like booms 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGEUgB5AKtI
and sparks of ether raining down in the night sky,920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqt0PQV5mE7
I realised that actually, they maybe weren’t all that bad. 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6oH9S0RsVv
They were eccentric, but good hearted, probably.920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7RAeAKavoS
You’re welcome to come around sometime,920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOkFZzahh7c
I said, at 84 Osborne street. 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaSo7AdEvCx
I channelled some literature; don’t bother knocking, 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Icbslzb0F
and they smiled, I think, a frowny smile, 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmHcbr2mGmn
and went back to their home, 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpMGU8nct5Q
flapping away into the clouds on black leathery wings 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpqGbVtBEuE
which reminded me of liquorice.
Later I found out that they’d been on their way920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ54HJj9LsUt
to feast on some lonely children920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdjzmShGW4H
but had gotten sidetracked by fireworks,920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr8UVI6uVxD
as you do.
The fireworks had ended already920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa8MFUbeHKd
by the time I made my way back to the sleigh I’d parked 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa1qkGAdt0C
between a battered Toyota 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFNLurgyvsY
and a hulking four wheel drive.920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKvPQpXEQVR
My eight kangaroos pulled me all the way back,920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAjGyWoba1z
up and down office buildings,920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDLks8Yx2uG
through the desert,920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCfibtTtFUO
around and around a roundabout (we got caught in the whirl)920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIfFbGcfS6Y
across a river, 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2NR5RDcynD
over the milky way,
and then we pulled up on the lawn 920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF41n94m3HP
of my suburban house.920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlk71VHEzQh
Walking inside, I flopped face down, doll-like,920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzRybUtIVcj
and fell asleep on an old white mattress920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbOtB4e0U1Z
under a fading southern cross.920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPDlORnUFDe
Happy Australia Day920Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx4Cj8dFvOE
