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 53: He was surprised to find that his family merited a mention.
He was surprised to find that his family merited a mention. James paused in his reading, finished his meal and discarded the trash. He washed his hands and then took the book to the couch. Quite a lot of time was dedicated to his family. Most of the mentions involved his step-brother Eric.
Eric was praised for his business acumen. Several feats of enterprise were laid at his feet and James had to smile as Carrie clearly got her time line wrong. Some of Eric’s supposed achievements were things their father performed well before either of them joined the company.
‘The Frazier Merger was done before I was even born,’ James thought with amusement. ‘And I’m several years older than Eric. ‘
James reached the end of the chapter and laughed out loud at Carrie’s praise of what had always be termed in the family as the Jefferson Affair. In her book Carrie claimed a hand in helping that particular matter along. As that particular arrangement had been between his grandfather and Alexander Jefferson before even their parents were born, he found that one exaggeration too many.
‘Given the level of detail, I bet Eric helped her out,’ James thought as he turned the page. He could actually see Eric doing so in order to further his own prestige.’ James frowned as a thought occurred to him and he flipped to the front of the book and looked at the publication date on the fly leaf. The book was released three days before his life changing automotive incident.
James leaned back on the couch and thought of that time. While the divorce he accepted, James was still reeling from the knowledge that both his step brothers slept with his now ex-wife. The betrayal caused him to pull away from the family and reevaluate his life. It was what led him to sell his collection. He recalled at the time that Eric had begun some sort of coup within the company, trying to drum up support for his increased leadership. James tapped the back of the book.
Was this part of it? To help Cassie with her book so that he would look better, more prominent? He closed his eyes and tried to think like Eric. He could easily see his Eric bringing the books to various business coliges in an attempt to look as though he was promoting Cassie. Eric was good at that sort of think and he could easily see it being incorporated as part of the ground work for Eric’s big take over.
“But then I left,” James said. “All that work for nothing.”
James opened his eyes and sat up. He found his taste for reading Cassie’s book waning. He closed it and set it to the side. “I think we’ll go for some honest fiction,” he decided.
Ten til Midnight 