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 63: It would be a casual association and at the moment, that suited him quite well.
It would be a casual association and at the moment, that suited him quite well. The afternoon finally took him out of the initial paperwork and into actual accounting work. James input several travel reimbursement requests, each time sending a copy to Linda for review.
Towards the end of the day she brought in the signed and authorized time sheets from the files. They were filled out by each employee, e-mailed to their supervisor, printed out, initialed by the supervisor and then sent to Linda. In the future they would be sent to James directly.
For these files, James didn’t need to print out another copy, he merely had to type the information into the system and Linda would be able to look through the data base to check his work. Once he was given his task, Linda left again and James returned to inputting the information.
There was something quite soothing about it. He made certain the numbers lined up and everything was in its proper column. Each task had a precise set of checklists with it and when the end of the day rolled around, James put a marker in the files where he stopped, locked the files in his desk and turned off the computer. There was nothing to bring home and in fact he was forbidden to bring any paperwork home with him. His work was confined to his office.
James locked his desk drawer and made certain that nothing was left out on the table. He logged out of the computer and shut it down. Like leaving the suit jacket behind when he left his apartment, not taking any files with him made him feel as though something was missing, that he had forgotten something. He double checked everything before leaving the office, but there was nothing he needed to take with him other than his work bag and empty reusable lunch bag.
He and Linda left at the same time and they chatted pleasantly about the nice weather as they left the office and went to their separate vehicles. James checked his watch as he unlocked his car and slid behind the wheel. It was only five thirty in the afternoon.
As he started the engine James tried to remember when his work day stopped at five thirty. He couldn’t. If by some miracle he managed to leave the office on time, which meant around six or seven in the evening, there was always a dinner meeting or an event he had to attend.
With nowhere else to go, James drove back to his apartment. Traffic was bad but it wasn’t horrific and there was still daylight in the sky. He parked in the same spot his vehicle occupied over the weekend, and turned off the engine. He climbed the stairs to his apartment and let himself in.
He stood in the living room wondering what to do next. ‘Dinner I suppose,’ he thought.
He set one of the freezer meals into the microwave to begin reheating and went to change out of his work clothes. As he waited for the dinner to be ready he wondered what he should do with himself for the rest of the evening. He still had a few books and magazines he hadn’t gotten through over the weekend.
‘But I’ going to run out soon,’ James thought. The microwave dinged. He moved the tray to a plate and the plate to the table. “Maybe I could make a list of all of the things I never had time for before.”
Ten til Midnight 