I took a shadow out on a date last night. 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6elmxsw75q
We looked at each other with mutual understanding, 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYOpAri9lWx
and on a picnic blanket nestled down to watch the fireworks.820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIH9lu2Od00
The sun’s stain oozed around the edge of the horizon,820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo6FdA3PjFi
and suddenly my date was nothing more than some 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwjesbEPHjD
blurry silhouette820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHhj2oxfUBj
like those weird purple-green blotches you see 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ58fkTEkNrb
after staring at a bright light.820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8WfIfmF7as
Cold? I asked, but there was no answer, 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXMJ2CLfgIk
and it hadn’t been a question anyway,820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRfOnkuD1KC
but my date couldn’t care less about whether or not I wanted a blanket.820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1N3UZyprri
He was cold and unfeeling and barely there, 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyEMBZqHxIC
blotchy green and purple,820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSRhp8twxN6
fading every few seconds into the scenery, 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnyjcom9hwY
which wasn’t pleasant either, mainly rubbish and820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡur8G7Qjgv4
dead bushes.
The fireworks started, only to be interrupted halfway through by820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ42bNcOs2z9
an Alien Invasion. It turned out okay though. 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA6A9i7h6vV
Their spinning starcrafts had been driving past,820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ34qjfS9wgS
and they had only wanted to see the fireworks,820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ63SuBFqQf0
so in true patriotic spirit we welcomed them. 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuOCJPTWKU0
How could any of us deny them such a simple wish820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRAXnKSz4lj
on such a lovely humid sticky yukky night?820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAm3svIpxDF
Then some of the babies got scared of their glowy eyestalks, and started crying, 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6JKp3zdjCT
so the aliens got moved to a cordoned section820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHIwACs064Z
which was for the good of everyone. 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXonx38F235
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, 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhalIShR3su
the shadow, 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUr0tOdwJgp
in the chaos, 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAGTvgMk8UW
so I sat next to a little old lady820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9bmyNa87R1
and her grandson, and the evening got a hell of a lot weirder. 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMH5tvIZWQa
It did get more interesting, too, and820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNkC9dRbSSe
secretly, I thought it was probably a good thing 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFUqhVjYuiC
that the shadow had gotten left behind.820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPiFMzfjEhn
The little old lady then introduced herself as Connie, 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4bjnB5PLO4
which may have been short for something else,820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8e0o4nvyGF
and her grandson as Other Demons820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡolhv38EtJY
(which I thought was not very subtle).
Because it turns out that they were demons,820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUrKFQmgBzU
I could tell by the way their forked tail lashed in the long grass,820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4eVhsNn4qS
shifty eyes all yellow aglow, fogged up by some metaphors for misery,820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCaYlJmpd11
or something.820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2EpKL6qaSI
I certainly hadn’t been expecting THAT tonight, anyway,820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxHfrY7uwUT
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.820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn5XHsbWiRy
If you ever meet a demon, be nice. 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK414RZ7sPG
It had seemed random at the time.
I decided to have a little conversation,820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3f2f1zxaSm
you know, get to know them a bit.820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIyzTUqVTss
With a soundtrack of crackling thunder-like booms 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmHe8y85IT4
and sparks of ether raining down in the night sky,820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwRCOIM0SqK
I realised that actually, they maybe weren’t all that bad. 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWXaaNmoQOC
They were eccentric, but good hearted, probably.820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL5QMpBfBqY
You’re welcome to come around sometime,820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡezdWmFjkTH
I said, at 84 Osborne street. 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0XUDDU3Bgi
I channelled some literature; don’t bother knocking, 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjImE8AT7dc
and they smiled, I think, a frowny smile, 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIvNkzaU9Ni
and went back to their home, 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSGSMFRYGXH
flapping away into the clouds on black leathery wings 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYGSNlVpuIR
which reminded me of liquorice.
Later I found out that they’d been on their way820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVYhoeVsiRr
to feast on some lonely children820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡflW5PNU8ui
but had gotten sidetracked by fireworks,820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4i0OzrfNN3
as you do.
The fireworks had ended already820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKo2DsZBiaM
by the time I made my way back to the sleigh I’d parked 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIHRQVMM9wa
between a battered Toyota 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ9pf8HKrPK
and a hulking four wheel drive.820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSEF0J80zRh
My eight kangaroos pulled me all the way back,820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVbgoGt5zlN
up and down office buildings,820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdercJOGm8t
through the desert,820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFoqs6v0Jdi
around and around a roundabout (we got caught in the whirl)820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcdM4inDb6W
across a river, 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhTQTj2Etez
over the milky way,
and then we pulled up on the lawn 820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIF6GQ5gB4a
of my suburban house.820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEwR3wCNGKd
Walking inside, I flopped face down, doll-like,820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRpplUHmS0V
and fell asleep on an old white mattress820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrYqFDkxZHc
under a fading southern cross.820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOuvQUTy6uK
Happy Australia Day820Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlVy4EcUz8y
