OOPS

Wailing like a police siren, an astronaut leaped off the lobby balcony, landing heavily on a herd of stampeding Elvis dental technicians from the Shark’s Bay Dental Clinic.

Nearby, six Salvador Dalis from the Shark’s Bay Surrealist Society were trampled underfoot by a bevy of beefy ballerinas from the Bayside Bowling Team. A Viking, a Roman centurion, Frost DeAndrews, and a guy in a giant teddy bear costume were doing their best to hide under the skirts of a howling Queen Victoria, while, to my left, an unconscious Darth Vader was being lifted to safety by a large baby with a beard. Biff Coogan, in his gorilla costume, had scrambled up an ornamental pillar outside the front door, King Kong style, accidentally disturbing a wasps’ nest with disastrous results.

A group of leprechauns were fighting to get out of the emergency exit first.

It was pandemonium.

Everywhere there was screaming and running and panic and destruction. Things had gotten waaaay out of hand.

“Kill the bunyip!” I shouted to Ellie. “We have to stop it!”

Ellie wrestled with the remote. “I can’t! It’s not responding!”

Nico, Sal, Ellie, and I looked helplessly at the bunyip. Little snakes of electricity ran up and down its body, and sparks began shooting from gaps in the creature’s skin. It lumbered across the flooded lobby floor, its roar getting louder and louder with every step.

We had created a monster.