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 117: “She made them look good?” Morris asked.
“She made them look good?” Morris asked.
“Yeah,” James said. “Better than they would have looked on their own. And because it wasn’t them making the claims it has a better chance of being believed.”
“A brag by an outside source as well as back upo for the claims she made about herself?” Morris said.
“Definitely,” James said.
“So the book is a work of propaganda with each parting backing the others claims. Not unheard of.”
“No but the timing was interesting. I think it was a way to gain the confidence of the board and push me out so they could run things.”
“Ah,” Morris said. “An interesting plan and I could see why it would interest you.”
“I had the book with me when we came here,” James said. I put it in the bag to add weight so the bag didn’t flop around and look empty. When I was in the waiting room I had time so I continued reading. There seemed to be some sort of pattern to the lies that I couldn’t quite see.”
“Something that went beyond bragging and gaining the board’s confidence?”
“Yeah. Maybe. It probably doesn’t have anything to do with this and might actually mean nothing, but its one of those things that is going to bug me until I figure it out.”
James didn’t add that by trying to find the pattern he had given himself something to do, something to worry about other than the people shooting at him and the fate of Morris. It made him feel less like a package being shipped around.
“Maybe it doesn’t and maybe it does,” Morris said.
“You think?”
Morris started to shrug and thought better of it. “You didn’t see the pattern until after the shooting. Perhaps you simply hadn’t read far enough into the book to see a pattern before then. Perhaps needing to focus on something else made you see the pattern, or perhaps something in the current situation made the pattern stand out and made you clue into it. All three are possibilities. And if it bothers you there is no reason that you shouldn’t continue looking at it. It will keep you occupied and set your mind at ease even if it doesn’t relate and possibly help us out if it does.”
“Because there is nothing else I can do?” James asked.
“Not until we get those files,” Morris looked at him. “The decision was made earlier tonight to let the information that you were killed slip and see what happens.”
Morris watched him for signs of his reaction. Honestly James couldn’t quite decide how he felt about it. He left completely but everyone knew he was still alive. Now they knew he was dead. For a brief second James wondered if Morris was wondering how his family would take the news. Then he realized this wasn’t the case.
“You’re hoping to flush someone out.”
Ten til Midnight 