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 57: “While everyone should arrive soon it will be about an hour before we are technically open for business.”
“While everyone should arrive soon it will be about an hour before we are technically open for business.”
“I see,” James said. He nodded and stayed out of the receptionist’s way as she started her day.
“I’m Helen by the way,” she said. “Welcome aboard.”
“Thanks,” he replied. “I’m James.”
She nodded and then continued moving about. A few minutes later a man a little older than James walked in through the door. He had silver gray hair that was thick and wavy. His pants were black, as was his tie. His shirt was a bright, almost electric blue. When he turned, James could see that it made the older man’s blue eyes seem almost as electric as they picked up on the color. He was certain the look was calculated. He just didn’t know if he was the target or not.
“Helen, good morning,” he said. The man turned to study James. “Are you the new accountant?”
James stood. “I am sir, sent by Anderson Staffing.”
James held out his hand and the man shook it. “Prompt, I like that.” He said with approval. “We’ll get you settled so we can all start our day relatively on time. Linda will go over your paperwork when she arrives, but I can show you the ropes now.”
“I appreciate it, sir,” James said. The man gave him a short, sharp nod and turned away. He began walking and James followed him. They went through the door to the back and James found himself walking through a long corridor of office doors. Some were opened and some were closed. Those that were opened showed only generic office spaces. He caught glimpses of desks, computers and filing cabinets as they walked briskly passed. He could tell each had some sort of personality to it, but they didn’t pause at any long enough for James to tell exactly what it was that was done in the offices.
At the end of the corridor, the older man opened a door and stepped into one of the offices. It, like the others, held a desk a computer and a filing cabinet. There were no personal touches, like coffee mugs, or framed prints. Lined up on the desk was a packet of papers and a series of office supplies. Pens, pencils, erasers, post it notes, a box of paper clips, a stapler, an extra box of staples, a yellow highlighter and a note pad were all lined up in a row as though awaiting orders.
“Good, everything in readiness,” the man said. “The papers are your orientation, Linda will be over them with you. This is your office.” He stepped to the desk and looked down at the orientation pages. “Excellent,” he said. He looked back up at James. “The computer information is here, you can log on and start setting up. You will need to spend some time looking over the system and familiarizing yourself with the program.”
Ten til Midnight 