I took a shadow out on a date last night. 765Please respect copyright.PENANADQS2CiAeIq
We looked at each other with mutual understanding, 765Please respect copyright.PENANAjUh4H3VRN2
and on a picnic blanket nestled down to watch the fireworks.765Please respect copyright.PENANAGjjBtg2zNo
The sun’s stain oozed around the edge of the horizon,765Please respect copyright.PENANAqDzSgcnCoO
and suddenly my date was nothing more than some 765Please respect copyright.PENANAyfVCeMaY72
blurry silhouette765Please respect copyright.PENANAPeQypbfFx0
like those weird purple-green blotches you see 765Please respect copyright.PENANApIQaZD1XFg
after staring at a bright light.765Please respect copyright.PENANARqVVbFfJxq
Cold? I asked, but there was no answer, 765Please respect copyright.PENANAWtalfw1o58
and it hadn’t been a question anyway,765Please respect copyright.PENANAr2QBFHupvA
but my date couldn’t care less about whether or not I wanted a blanket.765Please respect copyright.PENANAKE8ymMYdxN
He was cold and unfeeling and barely there, 765Please respect copyright.PENANAELF9q3mIyF
blotchy green and purple,765Please respect copyright.PENANAlpLR98IeSq
fading every few seconds into the scenery, 765Please respect copyright.PENANAH0rVe848l7
which wasn’t pleasant either, mainly rubbish and765Please respect copyright.PENANAbqfJw0WiTH
dead bushes.
The fireworks started, only to be interrupted halfway through by765Please respect copyright.PENANABjsOz8kKaC
an Alien Invasion. It turned out okay though. 765Please respect copyright.PENANAGB34nNqxWf
Their spinning starcrafts had been driving past,765Please respect copyright.PENANAo0DKIqs2Sq
and they had only wanted to see the fireworks,765Please respect copyright.PENANANjnB04z8ka
so in true patriotic spirit we welcomed them. 765Please respect copyright.PENANAzW92ujDy47
How could any of us deny them such a simple wish765Please respect copyright.PENANAVwNOOwuJfM
on such a lovely humid sticky yukky night?765Please respect copyright.PENANAGrYN2ODknf
Then some of the babies got scared of their glowy eyestalks, and started crying, 765Please respect copyright.PENANACjKclNUME1
so the aliens got moved to a cordoned section765Please respect copyright.PENANANuJo8zjUoK
which was for the good of everyone. 765Please respect copyright.PENANAoYJDiqnmFE
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, 765Please respect copyright.PENANAqkjbAKCb74
the shadow, 765Please respect copyright.PENANAUwSunhKvKQ
in the chaos, 765Please respect copyright.PENANAxDXrFLn9gI
so I sat next to a little old lady765Please respect copyright.PENANANlCfMGaWqt
and her grandson, and the evening got a hell of a lot weirder. 765Please respect copyright.PENANAK2A7Bbjs76
It did get more interesting, too, and765Please respect copyright.PENANAO39vOMNx4f
secretly, I thought it was probably a good thing 765Please respect copyright.PENANAQtqZlVtMXK
that the shadow had gotten left behind.765Please respect copyright.PENANAOmDygLx3eT
The little old lady then introduced herself as Connie, 765Please respect copyright.PENANARgscjgQY0M
which may have been short for something else,765Please respect copyright.PENANANGZFeRwQKz
and her grandson as Other Demons765Please respect copyright.PENANA7kIx0GoxvW
(which I thought was not very subtle).
Because it turns out that they were demons,765Please respect copyright.PENANARXMkgt4Gqp
I could tell by the way their forked tail lashed in the long grass,765Please respect copyright.PENANAAShHo0Rcf6
shifty eyes all yellow aglow, fogged up by some metaphors for misery,765Please respect copyright.PENANAroRo6dnxqv
or something.765Please respect copyright.PENANADL7WyQFaXb
I certainly hadn’t been expecting THAT tonight, anyway,765Please respect copyright.PENANA6mnKhP1pIw
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.765Please respect copyright.PENANAdDQgRhzdvc
If you ever meet a demon, be nice. 765Please respect copyright.PENANAB4UX3r63pP
It had seemed random at the time.
I decided to have a little conversation,765Please respect copyright.PENANAIfJko3UOUK
you know, get to know them a bit.765Please respect copyright.PENANAppVpWPlSEU
With a soundtrack of crackling thunder-like booms 765Please respect copyright.PENANAPOtklxvMcG
and sparks of ether raining down in the night sky,765Please respect copyright.PENANAd4dktgpUA5
I realised that actually, they maybe weren’t all that bad. 765Please respect copyright.PENANA5iYua5v1ws
They were eccentric, but good hearted, probably.765Please respect copyright.PENANAWgRymjDMpx
You’re welcome to come around sometime,765Please respect copyright.PENANAqXK2oAhkuO
I said, at 84 Osborne street. 765Please respect copyright.PENANADgopi9YFV1
I channelled some literature; don’t bother knocking, 765Please respect copyright.PENANAo1KivXpGxN
and they smiled, I think, a frowny smile, 765Please respect copyright.PENANAEPTZHBv8Az
and went back to their home, 765Please respect copyright.PENANAuiVRqbnAm0
flapping away into the clouds on black leathery wings 765Please respect copyright.PENANAOCmgt0ICZm
which reminded me of liquorice.
Later I found out that they’d been on their way765Please respect copyright.PENANA2OgH0waoHi
to feast on some lonely children765Please respect copyright.PENANAwGzwYWAVll
but had gotten sidetracked by fireworks,765Please respect copyright.PENANAqR1w7eROWH
as you do.
The fireworks had ended already765Please respect copyright.PENANAZucIPd4X68
by the time I made my way back to the sleigh I’d parked 765Please respect copyright.PENANAPffbdxPno6
between a battered Toyota 765Please respect copyright.PENANAKVQNimcNpu
and a hulking four wheel drive.765Please respect copyright.PENANABGfK3IaVSf
My eight kangaroos pulled me all the way back,765Please respect copyright.PENANAvXIgByIv3n
up and down office buildings,765Please respect copyright.PENANAVmLYqD5yi3
through the desert,765Please respect copyright.PENANA1SoLZgAP8O
around and around a roundabout (we got caught in the whirl)765Please respect copyright.PENANAQI1UioHHHL
across a river, 765Please respect copyright.PENANAHOs63rSNYN
over the milky way,
and then we pulled up on the lawn 765Please respect copyright.PENANAZbFUKNECMj
of my suburban house.765Please respect copyright.PENANACfiNw8l6ow
Walking inside, I flopped face down, doll-like,765Please respect copyright.PENANAwOWO16Simb
and fell asleep on an old white mattress765Please respect copyright.PENANAaBeIJn380h
under a fading southern cross.765Please respect copyright.PENANAGPU3ktbBu1
Happy Australia Day765Please respect copyright.PENANA5jgrAJDk5t