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 70: Part of him hoped to return just to find out.
Part of him hoped to return just to find out. The wait was not as long as he expected it to be. He guessed that as their menu was small they prepared their sups ahead of time while making their sandwiches ala minute. James didn’t know much about soup but he knew that it took time to make. It seemed only sensible for them to prepare early.
The line moved steadily and his name was called. James moved to the pickup counter and took his bag from a smiling woman who wished him a good night. He took his bag out to the car and resumed his drive home. The scents wafting from the bag were tantalizing. He knew that whatever the bag held it was several steps above his frozen food fare. He congratulated himself on stopping off. It was certainly going to be a better meal than he had in a while.
James pulled into his parking lot and looked around. While the lot generally emptied as he left for work and filled up around the time he came home, proving that most of his neighbors had a similar work schedule to him, tonight it seemed a bit more sparsely populated than usual.
‘Friday night,’ he reminded himself. Not only had he stopped off for a drink with Mike after work but he stopped off to pick up dinner. From what he saw of his neighbors they were each about ten to fifteen years younger than he was. ‘No doubt everyone is going out.’
Satisfied that the half empty lot wasn’t suspicious, James gathered his work bag and his dinner and went upstairs. As always the light weight of his work bag made him feel as though he left something behind. There were no files or lap top inside it, just a few essentials he needed to get through the day and an empty reusable lunch bag.
Turning his thoughts away from work, James thought about the others going out. He was sure there were some bars, clubs theaters, arenas or something hosting something that might interest him, but he found he couldn’t muster up any sort of enthusiasm for venturing out again. He wasn’t certain if he wasn’t in the mood for socializing or if the socializing now made him miss the friends he long ago lost contact with more.
‘Going out makes me have to remember more of my story than normal,’ James told himself, ignoring the thoughts of loss. At the office there was a level of professionalism that prevented certain questions from probing too deeply. Our after hours, those restrictions loosened. Mike wasn’t exactly the questioning sort, which was one of the main reasons James agreed to go to the bar with him. Mike was a go with the flow kind of guy who, while personable and friendly, was too self-absorbed to actually delve into another’s details too deeply.
‘And even if he had the sound would have prevented it,’ James thought as he unlocked his apartment door. James hadn’t known about the sound before, but it added a layer of comfort. He knew that if he went out on his own now, he would have to start conversations out of whole cloth or sit by himself observing those around him. He decided he wasn’t up for either option and if he did investigate the local night life it would be at another time. James stepped into his apartment, closed the door and walked over to the kitchen table. As he set his bag down, a knock sounded on the door.
As he only knew one person who might stop by his apartment, James suspected his visitor was Carson. James cast a longing look to his dinner, but figured if Carson was stopping by, there was probably a reason. He turned back to the door.
Ten til Midnight 