I took a shadow out on a date last night. 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHlx2tYK5kL
We looked at each other with mutual understanding, 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ8PzJL2ESY
and on a picnic blanket nestled down to watch the fireworks.976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsZeqcGQ3iU
The sun’s stain oozed around the edge of the horizon,976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhJIdW80ror
and suddenly my date was nothing more than some 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3pnMskiEsa
blurry silhouette976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxyr4QZ4r2X
like those weird purple-green blotches you see 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbmAoq3AW10
after staring at a bright light.976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8d1ydTsdcm
Cold? I asked, but there was no answer, 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzUY1LX3UhO
and it hadn’t been a question anyway,976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmv6vO7sIAJ
but my date couldn’t care less about whether or not I wanted a blanket.976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVmlKCWtncp
He was cold and unfeeling and barely there, 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5kVO9ehtFD
blotchy green and purple,976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡInJbmdUTXW
fading every few seconds into the scenery, 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqkvVFKUmKt
which wasn’t pleasant either, mainly rubbish and976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDDX7iBnRy0
dead bushes.
The fireworks started, only to be interrupted halfway through by976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Qskshff2g
an Alien Invasion. It turned out okay though. 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn819m6JXEg
Their spinning starcrafts had been driving past,976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfhAxEVpTHv
and they had only wanted to see the fireworks,976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZtrXCVgUpB
so in true patriotic spirit we welcomed them. 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9MbXeoGTzG
How could any of us deny them such a simple wish976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVeMVbKp8Ff
on such a lovely humid sticky yukky night?976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbPxVkp3Ras
Then some of the babies got scared of their glowy eyestalks, and started crying, 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnv4SL3JDgb
so the aliens got moved to a cordoned section976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5m2ODXLIeS
which was for the good of everyone. 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuGURznZ5uc
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, 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡylf1JYNPqm
the shadow, 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBIjJkPhpWA
in the chaos, 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU2OeY1BWJm
so I sat next to a little old lady976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAaEjr955qP
and her grandson, and the evening got a hell of a lot weirder. 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEbWHwBt7OR
It did get more interesting, too, and976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK3S9302obd
secretly, I thought it was probably a good thing 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIKFzQtivMw
that the shadow had gotten left behind.976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj8uY4PqurX
The little old lady then introduced herself as Connie, 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7LKuExd4zB
which may have been short for something else,976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU9JhjlyxqX
and her grandson as Other Demons976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjVozUFqCL7
(which I thought was not very subtle).
Because it turns out that they were demons,976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIfEbQH1gmw
I could tell by the way their forked tail lashed in the long grass,976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaPFQteCSS2
shifty eyes all yellow aglow, fogged up by some metaphors for misery,976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXPnKcGHJD6
or something.976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJOQjAq5lFo
I certainly hadn’t been expecting THAT tonight, anyway,976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu7fu2mSu3q
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.976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWyNpnCxidz
If you ever meet a demon, be nice. 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDw47V9auxc
It had seemed random at the time.
I decided to have a little conversation,976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFY7Ttnq86A
you know, get to know them a bit.976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvPXMAZ1zuE
With a soundtrack of crackling thunder-like booms 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeZHMPpaedo
and sparks of ether raining down in the night sky,976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ92nzjfVQle
I realised that actually, they maybe weren’t all that bad. 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSsOpUftL1f
They were eccentric, but good hearted, probably.976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG7zTiQnFRA
You’re welcome to come around sometime,976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ79hg5aRksU
I said, at 84 Osborne street. 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf2dNuDRKEh
I channelled some literature; don’t bother knocking, 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHUBNtdine2
and they smiled, I think, a frowny smile, 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCcON0ZeeAA
and went back to their home, 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcExKrwRPAe
flapping away into the clouds on black leathery wings 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6NMrrGzRch
which reminded me of liquorice.
Later I found out that they’d been on their way976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ29BgnSLu0a
to feast on some lonely children976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGHgYWjb0fc
but had gotten sidetracked by fireworks,976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH8wtEDwmGf
as you do.
The fireworks had ended already976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7kIxoiDaAb
by the time I made my way back to the sleigh I’d parked 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnc7hRQk8d8
between a battered Toyota 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAIn1UhgWEa
and a hulking four wheel drive.976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwZRuAwy1Uc
My eight kangaroos pulled me all the way back,976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV7ntWMgAEm
up and down office buildings,976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdjnGjSTjQW
through the desert,976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEM9h1UsIXz
around and around a roundabout (we got caught in the whirl)976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhGpkrZZzlH
across a river, 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqHd0sO6BXY
over the milky way,
and then we pulled up on the lawn 976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAWM3e2KgnD
of my suburban house.976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM6ZlzZJzVt
Walking inside, I flopped face down, doll-like,976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4YToFT9Xbm
and fell asleep on an old white mattress976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ82owW3v3bw
under a fading southern cross.976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhVaV7MbgZd
Happy Australia Day976Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO5V0D33xNN
