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 31: It would explain why he looked like he was starting his life over.
It would explain why he looked like he was starting his life over. James wondered if Carson thought of that or just assumed people would make up some sort of story for themselves as to why he was new in town and just moving in with so few belongings.
‘Admittedly no one commented on my moving in at all and I haven’t actually seen any of my neighbors.’ James closed the trunk of his car and walked the cart back to the cart return. There were other cars in the parking lot of his building and he presumed they belonged to other tenants. As he walked back to his car he wondered if the building had a naturally high turnover or if the feds used the building so often as a temporary housing for new participants in the program that the regular people living there just grew accustomed to the high turn around rate.
As he unlocked the driver’s side door and slid inside. James frowned to himself. He fastened his seatbelt and turned the key in the ignition. He wasn’t certain he liked being in a place that might be accustomed to seeing people like him. If six months in the apartment was standard, he might not want to run out the six months, leaving before it was through so that he didn’t look standard.
“And if I am newly divorced, this could be the place I stay while looking for a new place, my things still in storage.” As he drove back across town towards his apartment, James decided he liked his story. It made sense to him in a way that didn’t sound federal. He mentally added a few details from his real life divorce that left out the names and details he knew Carson wouldn’t like.
“Carson,” James said as he stopped at a red light. Carson looked federal. There was no getting around that. He looked as though he belonged to some sort of federal agency. It wasn’t as blatant as some of the other agents had been, but it was still there.
“Something in the eyes,” James decided as the light turned green and he rolled forward.
James tried to figure out how he could add Carson to his story. “Maybe he works at the law office and handled my divorce,” James said. “Or maybe he works for my ex-wife’s law office and want’s to make sure that I didn’t take anything listed as hers.”
James remembered early on in his divorce when his mother had the decorators swirling all over his new apartment. Faith misplaced something and her lawyers sent one of their low level minions to make certain he hadn’t accidentally taken it. He hadn’t, couldn’t even remember it and it was later found in one of Faith’s guest rooms. He shook his head.
“That would work, but maybe Carson won’t be around much,” James added. “He said he’d call about the job.” James thought it argued for the agent keeping his distance until he was needed. James found the thought appealing. It was strange shopping with Carson there that morning. He had the feeling that every purchase he made, Carson was watching and weighing it against a list loosely entitled ‘what James did before’ While James conceded it was understandable, it was somewhat uncomfortable and made him feel small and inept. He didn’t care for the feeling.
“So as long as I stick to the rules and nothing happens, I shouldn’t have to see Carson.” James continued as he turned left. “I can settle into the job he arranges, and then once settled I can look for a new place and move so that I am not at the apartment.”
James nodded to himself, liking the way the story he was creating for himself was coming together. He decided that once he arrived back at the apartment, he would unload his trunk and then take the Studebaker for a stroll around town seeing the things that didn’t make Carson’s points of interest list.
Ten til Midnight 