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 43: “I wonder who is calling,” James said.
“I wonder who is calling,” James said. The list of possibilities was a short one. As far as he knew only one person had his phone number. As he rolled over and reached for the phone, the dream shredded, dissipating in his thoughts.
He picked up his phone and saw Carson’s name on the screen. “Well that is the one person who has this number,” he said.
He sat up and pressed the button to accept the call. “Hello,” he said. His voice was still rough from sleep and he cleared his throat.
“Good morning, I didn’t wake you did I?” Carson said.
“I was just getting up,” James lied. Somehow being woken up by Carson felt too personal.
“Good,” Carson continued. “I will be by in about an hour,” Carson told him.
James frowned. His agent sounded slightly cross.
“Was there an issue with the job?” He asked. James wondered if he was somehow not qualified for an entry level job after all.
“No,” Carson said. “I’ll… we’ll talk when I get there.”
“Okay,” James said. Carson hung up without further comment and James frowned as he set the phone down. “That sounds ominous.”
He slid out of the bed, flinging the covers back. Figuring that if there was going to be some sort of issue that cause him to move again James wanted to at least be clean and dressed to face it, James got out of bed,, gathered his clothes and went into the bathroom. He relieved himself and then stripped to climb into the shower. James was glad that before he tackled the bed sheets he thought to hang the shower curtain and he enjoyed his morning shower much more because of it. There was also pleasure in using the regular sized shampoo and body wash instead of the Lilliputian varieties used by hotels and motels.
The scent is better too, he thought as he used them. While he didn’t consider himself the sort of man who objected to floral scented shampoos and soaps as if the flowers would somehow dent his masculinity, the scent the inexpensive places he was taken lately all had floral scents that reminded him of funeral parlors. They were the scents of the dying and somewhat ominous given his situation. As a consequence when he went shopping he chose labels that featured the words Awake and Energized, thinking those would be less floral.
The were indeed less floral and although the scents weren’t ones he could immediately identify the smells were zippy and invigorating. The new towels were a relief as well. While still new and smelling a bit industrial, they were soft and fluffy. James had enough of thin and scratchy towels to last him a life time.
He dried off with the new towels and dressed in clean clothes. Clean and dressed and ready to run if his agent deemed it necessary, James left the bathroom, deposited his clothing discards into the pile at the bottom of the closet and then moved to the small kitchenette to make coffee. Despite claiming to need an hour, buy the time the coffee pot finished its brew cycle and was ready for James to dispense a cup, Carson was knocking on his door.
Ten til Midnight 