Matthew Eubanks

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Aug, 2020

Stories (25)

25 Stories

508 karma pts

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“Johnny Bulldog” by Matthew Eubanks

Submitted to Contest #61

Little Johnny Bulldog meets me at the gas station and he's carrying a gun. Not just any gun. It's this huge, AR-15, militia rifle like I shot in the army all the time. But it's all tricked out and it's painted purple. Never seen a AR-15 painted purple before. Like with skulls and stuff on it. In Nashville you have to hide what you're carrying. It's pretty ridiculous. But Mississippi, you can be out in the open in some places. It's got a sweet stand and the expensive sight on it.He kind of waves it up in the air and around everywhere and laug...

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“Bay Minette” by Matthew Eubanks

Submitted to Contest #61

Bay Minette, Alabama is not the town you live in. It's the city that's always in the way of you getting somewhere else. It's the town you drove through on your way to the Gulf when you were first trying to get ahold of the girl named Darla. It was the first time you'd ever traveled together. You want to get her to the beach. You noticed the water tower and thought about how the wording was backwards. How in Iowa it would have been named the reverse way. Minette Bay. Bay of Minette. Then she started talking about how hard it was to feed the ...

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“Broad Channel” by Matthew Eubanks

Submitted to Contest #60

I have to get out of here.The lights are out. I’m not sure if the subway door will open if I pull on it.Panic. Calm the hell down. That’s panic. I should wait for help.I don’t need to panic because panic doesn’t help anything.No one ever uses Broad Channel station. The most underused station in New York. That's why it's so empty. That's why it's taking awhile.If you panic you won’t make good decisions at all. Be smart.The car just stopped and the lights went out all at once twenty – six minutes ago and there wasn’t any explanation. But I don...

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“Widow's Circle” by Matthew Eubanks

Submitted to Contest #60

This is a post-apocalyptic love story about the day of the rapture. It occurred in Tennessee, on October 28th, 1964. This is the story of how the witch saved me.History threads like a needle in the South. Southerners are more conscious of the thread than anybody. Our ancestors are pulling on one end, our grandchildren on the other. The pattern's ours to sew. Truth becomes what it needs to be over time, and with a strong hand it can be manipulated to what the body and mind need. It's the same everywhere, of course. But other places don't keep...

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“Dinner With Chuckles” by Matthew Eubanks

Submitted to Contest #59

The drive to the estate was horrific. I came down into the valley and I was sweating by the time I arrived at the tennis club. I’d never seen anything like it. They had warned me about the coast. Well, you know. You saw it on TV. I was never much of a tree climber, being the portliest of my class. As a child birds had annoyed me. Always pecking at my windows in the morning. I didn't miss those. I did make a mental note to ask the first fellow I saw what to do about the slow decline of my automobile tires along the way. Nothing is as atrocio...

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“Beautiful Friend” by Matthew Eubanks

Submitted to Contest #59

The big woman pounded on the door again. Ed knew it was her. That obnoxious beast. Every morning. He thought of calling her a word that he would never say. “TIME FOR PICKLEBALL,” she boomed. “Go away!” Ed said to the door. After a pause, she repeated herself. “DO YOU WANT TO PLAY PICKLEBALL,” she boomed again. She had a voice like a battering ram. Ed had been up since 3:30 as always, watching the clock, waiting. His legs hurt from the neuropathy. If he flat refused her, or they thought he was asleep, they would give him his medicine la...

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“Pastrami” by Matthew Eubanks

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #58

The train ran completely underground for the entire five hour trip, taking them from the small train station and emerging indoors in the Hospital District. Rosa wanted to see Washington DC but she also didn't want to be disappointed. She knew it wouldn't look like she remembered it from years ago. She held Fred's hand for most of the trip. “Do you think there's a chance this will work?” she asked him. She had olive skinned hands. Fred's fingers were long and soft. He was ten years her senior. “We're doing this to take care of our people,...

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“Amongst Onions” by Matthew Eubanks

Submitted to Contest #58

Hugo Franks gave me what was probably the most terrifying half hour of my life. Terrifying situations were pretty much every day risks of my job as an astronaut. I had flown F-15s, supersonic jets, once I crashed in the Pacific test flying in the middle of the night and I had to swim back to shore. I did not think anything was capable of making me lose my mind. They chose me for the Mars launch precisely because nothing, including the thought of dying, really bothers me all that much. I was not, at that time, in any form religious. I expecte...

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“The King of Paper Clips” by Matthew Eubanks

Submitted to Contest #57

There was only one man who ever challenged Johan Vaaler, inventor of the paperclip, for greatness in the mind of the people of Norway. This is the story of the downfall of that man. No day in Norway is like Paper Clip Day, May 29th, and no man like Johan Valer. The Clipper, some called him, like a sailor on the sea. Johan Vaaler. The name rolled off the tongue of the sailing Norwegians who, before him, had given their honest honorifics to proud men of the sea. Their sleepy village had drawn in fish and whale oil for centuries, and very littl...

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“Zombie Aardvark Angel of Death” by Matthew Eubanks

Submitted to Contest #57

Margaret Brewster hated hospitals. All the smells and beeping and alarms and every room looking like someone was ready to croak at any moment made her batty. She had driven around three accidents, her car's engine had caught on fire and there was a chemical spill diverting traffic on the way. But she was here. She adjusted her lace gloves and thought about the vial of powder in her pocket. Ethel Brewster was as alert and bright eyed as ever, god damn her. Margaret needed Ethel to sign that will and then she needed her to go to the Lord. She...

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Author bio

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Shortlisted 1 story ⭐️

Contest #58
Pastrami – read story