The Fifteen Minute Novel is a novel written fifteen minutes at a time with each week day’s section starting with the sentence from the previous day. At least it is attempting to be a novel. For now I am just aiming at one continuous story, worked on for fifteen minutes each day. Started Friday January 1st, 2021 (in case you want to search for the beginning. I can’t wait to see where it ends up. It could be good, or it could be a mess. We’ll have to see. For now, here is today’s fifteen minutes.
Day 24: He then returned to his apartment and took out his phone ready to locate the nearest shopping center.
He then returned to his apartment and took out his phone ready to locate the nearest shopping center. The electronic map he located showed him the small grocery he and Carson just visited as well as the electronics’ store. He had to admit that they were the nearest shops to his apartment. He found several smaller strip malls near him, many of them looking like they had retail space for rent rather than actual stores. He pushed further afield and found what looked to be a shopping complex with several ig box stores clustered together.
“Bingo,” he told himself, certain the stores listed would have the basics he needed to set himself up while he waited for his belongings to arrive.
“I wonder if they’ll even bring them to me or put them in storage since this place is already furnished,” James looked around. He saw the two seater dinette and the cigarette burned couch. “Well furnished might be too strong a word,” he clarified. “But My stuff won’t all fit in here.” The dining table with the live wood edge alone would take up the entire living room. If he was to have his belongings, he would need to find a different place.
“Assuming they packed everything,” James added. He knew the feds would be going through his belongings and removing anything that might tie him to his former life. He couldn’t think of anyone who would look at his dining table and thing ‘Oh James must live here’ but he thought it possible one of the agents might thing along those lines.
“After all they don’t know I never had the time to have anyone over,” James shrugged it off. Right now he was more concerned with getting a plastic trash bin than he was about the fate of his custom built dining table.
“I’ll worry about it when Carson gives me a time table for my belongings even arriving,” He decided. Instead of worrying about it he took his phone and the electronic map of the city that he still had on his phone and went in search of the bus schedule Carson said was in his governmental welcome packet. He found the listed flyer and studied the routes. He found a route, that with two connectors, would take him to the stores he wanted. He also found that while there were multiple buses running in the morning and evening, the schedule was quite sparse throughout the rest of the day.
“I wonder if I can get an Uber,” he mused. James let the bus schedule drop to the table and turned back to his phone. To his delight there were several different car services listed that included his area. As James had never navigated any bus system before he decided that he would rather his first time out not be loaded down with a variety of home goods. Getting a car to ferry him there and back sounded like a much better idea.
“I’ll have to look at getting a car of my own soon if that bus schedule is to be believed. Even if he could navigate the bus to and from the job Carson managed to secure for him, its use at other times was rather limited. If he was to explore the city then a car was imperative.
“I wonder if I’m allowed to purchase a car or if that is something I have to ask permission for,” James mused. He didn’t like the thought of having to ask permission for something so basic. The job placement didn’t bother him, but asking for the right to buy a car did.
Ten til Midnight 