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 102: As they approached the apartment building, Tucker finally broke his silence.
As they approached the apartment building, Tucker finally broke his silence. “I’ve taken the apartment next to yours and will be your neighbor for the next month,” he said.
“My neighbor?” James replied. He thought of the woman he accidentally spooked on the first day.
“In 228,” Tucker added.
“Oh,” James replied. It was the apartment on the other side. Tucker hadn’t booted the female neighbor out, he had just taken the empty apartment. ‘I suppose that’s why I never heard that neighbor.’
Tucker pulled into the parking lot and parked next to James’s Studebaker.
“Do you have anywhere you are going today?” Tucker asked.
James thought about the contents of his fridge. He knew he had enough food to cover his meals for the at least three more days. He knew he wanted more than a steady diet of frozen meals but he hadn’t quite worked out a plan other than to patronize the soup and sandwich place he found on Friday.
“No,” James said. He had food for the moment and Cassie’s book to work through and think about. “Going somewhere when people might still be trying to kill me doesn’t seem smart.”
“We’re pretty sure there is no one left trying to go after you.”
“Sure,” James replied, unconvinced. Tucker turned off the engine, reached into his pocket and took out a business card. He held it out to James.
“The number on the back is my cell phone,” Tucker told him. James flipped over the business card and saw a phone number written in blue ink. “If anything changes, call me. Otherwise I’ll expect you to leave for work at the normal time. I’ll be leaving at the same time you do and shadowing you to the office. Don’t look for me, just pretend I’m not there.”
“Great,” James said. He told Tucker the time he planned to leave for work and got out of the car. Tucker watched him climb the stairs to his apartment and then walked towards the leasing office at the front of the building. James climbed the stairs and let himself into his apartment.
He locked the door behind him and for good measure threw the deadbolt. The apartment still looked generic and barely lived in but after the sterile pseudo hospital atmosphere of the safe house it felt warm and almost home-y.
James lifted the shoulder strap of the satchel over his head and off his body. He tossed it onto the couch and decided if nothing else, he would change clothes and then figure out what to do with the rest of his day.
A few minutes later dressed in jeans and a worn in t-shirt, James returned to the living room holding a pair of socks. He went to the couch, took Cassie’s book and his notebook with the pen out of the bag and took everything to his little dinette table. He set everything but the socks on the table and sat down in one of the chairs. He pulled the socks onto his feet and wiggled his toes. His eyes looked at the empty seat across from him and he couldn’t help but remember Carson sitting there. He and Carson weren’t friends. In fact, James wasn’t sure he even liked the man very much.
Ten til Midnight 