Billy Edaem

“The Me Without the You” by Billy Edaem

Submitted to Contest #284

My cellphone chirped from the other end of my office. I was always getting distracted from my work, so my girlfriend, erhm ex-girlfriend got me an apple charging station to leave in the corner of the room. Once every hour an alarm would go off prompting me to take my five-minute walk about in the apartment and check my messages, twitter, Facebook, Instagram, the news and my fantasy baseball team.     It was easy to see how and why I got so distracted. I became so viciously connected to my phone that I would...

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“The Man you Once Knew” by Billy Edaem

Submitted to Contest #282

“I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry, El. I’ll get help. I’ll do whatever you want me to do, just please don’t leave. Not like this.”     I begged my wife to stay. I knew deep down I didn’t deserve the second chance she gave me and that pleading with her for a third was a selfish bid.  Elaine and I were married just five years, but together since junior high. She’s the only woman I ever dated, the only woman I had ever been with. She was the only woman I knew how to love.  On my...

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“Stay Quick. Stay Short. Stay Strong.” by Billy Edaem

Submitted to Contest #282

    I’d known this pain. I’d experienced it five times before. The buckle. The total collapse. The sound, like gunshots and micro explosions localized to one small area, but in a mostly empty gymnasium, a truly deafening pop.      “Was that a knee?” Coach Thompson, asked a nearby referee.      I laid there, clutching the space just below the bend of my knee, in total silence. I knew what had happened. I didn’t have to look. Eyes tightly closed...

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“The Man in the Purple Dinner Jacket” by Billy Edaem

Submitted to Contest #281

It was the 16th night of December and the Bolvier’s were hosting their annual holiday black tie event where all the largest donors in the city would congregate, drink, laugh and open their wallets for charity. Mr. and Mrs. Bolvier lived in a rather rural piece of offshoot land just outside the city limits.      Mr. Bolvier was a trust fund child who routinely found himself in precarious positions with precarious people doing precarious things. That was, of course, when he was just a boy. He became a bo...

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“For Reasons Unknown” by Billy Edaem

“Mr. Boehm, you have been brought before the disciplinary committee today upon concerns of a breach of conduct regarding ethics code 11.24a. The committee will conduct an extensive review into your professional activity in the workplace, as well as your moral standing within the community. At this time, we will hear any opening remarks you may have in regard to the complaint, or complaints received that you wish this committee to consider during our investigation.” Dr. Wurley, the chairperson of the committee stated.    &...

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“Make it Right” by Billy Edaem

Submitted to Contest #278

I always knew my father to be a decent man. A good man. A well-intended man. He was simple, but in a charming kind of way. He was fly paper to the lost soul. A man who breathed life into another just by being present. That’s how I always knew James “Jimmy” Rush. It’s why being sat down outside the hospital room that evening and being told my father was dying by a very matter of fact spoken doctor felt so foreign. No body was matter of fact around my father. In fact, the economy of words was lost o...

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“Wicked Records” by Billy Edaem

Submitted to Contest #277

“Replenish the discount crates up front. They took a hit after The Wonder Years album release on Thursday.” The Manager said.     Local bands releasing new albums was about the only time this old shop had more than a handful of customers in an entire shift. The manager had bought out all of the records from two pawn shops a few towns over and used that to start his inventory. Trouble was the care of these records was less than stellar. Dust resided on and in every crate while the entire left side of the store s...

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