"The Man on 24th Street" by Matthew Eliot — Our March 2018 Gold Medal Winner
Matthew Eliot is our First place winner from the contest posted in our March,2018 issue!
Meet Matthew
Matthew Eliot is an aspiring author from Kingston, Ontario. New to writing, he ventures in both fiction and non-fiction. Matt is an avid traveller, having backpacked Asia and Europe, done cultural immersion programs in Western Africa and Grenada, and lived within the Arctic Circle in Norway. The winner of a prestigious international fellowship, he has earned degrees in Mathematics and Aquatic Resources. Matt is also a runner, painter, and has recently entered into filmmaking. He is an alumni of St. Francis Xavier University.
The Man on 24th Street
the unedited story by Matthew Eliot
Five more minutes. Oh how the days seemed to drag. Looking down at his watch, John McAlister tried to will the hands towards six o’clock.
Sitting in a dusty antique shop, he pondered how he would die. Maybe cancer, maybe he’d just fall and hit his head. John had opened the shop almost a decade earlier with his wife, a project to keep them busy in retirement. She passed nearly a year ago, taking his happiness with her. Now the shop was a lasting reminder of the joy he once possessed.
John’s consciousness shifted to a different topic: what would be written on his tombstone? Obviously his name and dates of birth and death, but what else? A saying or quote? Maybe ‘Gone But Not Forgotten’? No, too serious, and probably not true. ‘Loving Husband’? No, too stereotypical. Maybe ‘Grumpy Old Bastard’?
At least it would be honest.
To catch the rest of the story, be sure to order your copy of the June 2018 issue.
46 pages, cover art by Sara Niroobakhsh
Featuring the work of Ilham Alam, Joy DeVito, Katerina Eleftherious, Matthew Eliot, Stephanie Karakochuck Hardy, Caitlin Jans, Patricia Manale, Cindy Matthews, Gail M. Murray, Julia Nathanson, Nate Nettleton, Sara Niroobakhsh, Mitchell Toews
