Matt Edwards

“Of little consequence” by Matt Edwards

Submitted to Contest #95

So which is it? Do ya want the blue or the green? He scratched at his sparse stubble while looking at me over the upturned milk crate that he'd placed the items on. We were sitting at the back of coffee shop named 'Slipped Disc', a newly opened place that combined coffee and record sales. These numbers had been popping up all over the place, feeding the younger generation's penchant for rediscovering things that the previous generations had churned through and spurned for something else – life, probably. That's always the way generations wor...

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“Backwards Forwards” by Matt Edwards

That's when things started getting really awkward, I said to Jem. He looked at me sideways while we stood at the traffic lights. She did this when you were in the car or out of it, he asked me. Oh I was out. I can't say that it would've made any difference to her though. So she daubed 'Motherfucker' right across your windshield in house paint, Jem repeated I think it was house paint – a kind of shitty brown color, I say. You know, a ubiquitous, common sort of brown; fence paling brown maybe. The lights changed and we made our way ove...

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“Fool's Web” by Matt Edwards

Submitted to Contest #87

They gather around the teakwood meeting table, its edges worn smooth and shiny from myriads of elbows, wrists and stomachs. Among the twelve or so people, Ralph wonders if he'll keep his job; Emily on the other hand, not for the first time, wonders which rainforest in South America had to surrender several of its brethren to make the object that they were all sitting at. It's been a tough six months, sales have been down 11% percent, what with setbacks in various guises. Denise clears her throat, which catches nobody off-guard, then caref...

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“Little Helper” by Matt Edwards

Submitted to Contest #81

  Yvette knows how she wants this to look. The table, the food, the accoutrements – candles, napkins, some kind of flourish of colour (Green. Herbs in antique Mason jars, she thinks) – will all come together to form an environment of subtle nuances. If the date doesn't work out at least she knows she has created something, as ephemeral as it is, that itself has been lavished with care and attention. He doesn't eat meat, so she has discovered, which although not a shock has made her revise her plans and think a little harder about th...

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“Psilocybin” by Matt Edwards

Submitted to Contest #80

How will I start I wonder? 'I stand here before you today to talk about a revolutionary and hitherto unknown way of communicating.' No, that sounds too much like an advert. Perhaps: 'This discovery is the very beginning of an unparalleled interconnectedness of human experiences via the worldwide web.' Or how about: 'We have developed a link to the very core of our beings, tapping into the neural networks that power our personal worlds and drive our behaviours.' Yikes, that sounds frightening. Hmm, maybe I'll just wing it and see what flo...

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“Snow” by Matt Edwards

Submitted to Contest #77

The handle snapped clean off as the cup hit the metal edge that demarcated carpet from walkway, scolding hot brown liquid described an almost perfect arc as the physics of the impact worked its magic on an otherwise commonplace event. Corrine was jumpy, she knew that, and not watching where she had placed her coffee in relation to her elbow was further proof. Being stuck at work in a blizzard – a blizzard that she knew was here for the long haul – gave her the jitters. It was already after 8pm, what if she got caught here for days? Yes, ther...

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“Pure BS” by Matt Edwards

Submitted to Contest #76

“Their art authentication team have pulled the pin on this one, and we can't argue with Sotheby's. It never occurred to me that we might get caught out with this, despite the fact that we've always bought and sold genuine works.” “But this is conceptual art here, not your timorous paintings of landscapes, vases of tulips, or portraits of well known acolytes, junkies and vagabonds.” “And? And? So what Priya?” “Laslo, Laslo, Laslo. Come on, think about it. You're good at this.....Correction, we're good at this, especially when we work to...

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“All change” by Matt Edwards

Submitted to Contest #75

I use running logs, add notes to them as I see fit – as my clients speak with me and proffer situations that have arisen which need to be tended to. Some are a simple change of physical location, or maybe a new hair colour. Others ….. well, they're not so easy. I need to think on my feet. Helping these people is a lot like hard work only there's the satisfaction of assisting them in their desire to get up and out of the situations in which they find themselves, regardless of fate, future or finances. I've made a few good friends fro...

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“Its Crow” by Matt Edwards

Submitted to Contest #73

“They're smart, really smart. You'd be surprised at what these things can do.” Veronica smirks, as we down Rocket Fuel shots as fast as our funds allow. By this time I've kind of lost track of the conversation a little, not even sure what it is that she is referring to. She is far better at absorbing alcohol than I am. Three sheets to the wind and rapidly losing my bearings I grin and nod, not sure if my lips are pulling the right shape or not. Awoken by a violent start, slick from my own sweat from pulling the covers over myself five hou...

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“Inherit Tense” by Matt Edwards

Submitted to Contest #72

Bridget roamed the grocery shops looking to find past their use-by-date bargains, usually stuff in cans since she wasn't all that keen on risking her health to get 20% off and staphylococcus into the bargain. Her phone rang somewhere from within the bowels of her bag, she wasn't fast enough to dig it out from between her spare pair of glasses and her apartment keys. She felt the phone vibrate; maybe they had left a message. Over breakfast and a crossword the next morning, while she tried to figure out 6 across (6) - 'National tree of the ...

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“Well for starters” by Matt Edwards

Submitted to Contest #71

So far that day we'd had a home invasion false alert, two vehicle parking misdemeanors and a man who claimed that we'd left a truncheon in his trailer for him to use at his leisure and then return. My usual partner in non-crime – since we're cops – Bosisto, was on parental leave trying to settle his cerebral palsy-affected son into an accommodation center that specialised in CP care. I hadn't yet been partnered with anyone, since nothing big had come up where we needed to be out and about and scouting. So, at the boss's order, I spent my tim...

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“Fudge the Figures” by Matt Edwards

Submitted to Contest #70

Before Jed and Kamil could clear the rusty platform, littered with grease-smeared wrenches and chain locks, the massive pressure from below the earth's crust tore the drill head and platform free from their mountings. Kamil lost an arm; Jed was dead. Kamil being a renowned Sitar player was arguably the worse off, each day from then on to be tortured with the knowledge that he would never entice soulful meandering melodies from the beloved instrument again. Jed was stone cold by the time professional medical help came to the remote drilling s...

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“Blood Bank” by Matt Edwards

Submitted to Contest #68

The plasma bags are what she is after. She has them. This, the plasma, maintains the building blocks of life; it's the binder that knits red and white cells and platelets together; a kind of emulsifier of the bloodstream but with a bigger engine under the hood; all those things and so much more. Without it you die; with it you may also suffer if it isn't working as it should. For Caitlin's brother Martin, it was the latter. Caitlin had promised Martin the ride of a lifetime as soon as he was well enough to once again venture outside. They'd...

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