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 126: ‘It’s more the quick change of expression,’ he realized.
‘It’s more the quick change of expression,’ he realized. A blank look was fine in its own way. It could have meant Tucker was deep in thought or even working through a difficult problem. It was the way his expression changed deliberately that James found somewhat disturbing.
‘I don’t have to like the agents,’ James reminded himself. It was something he often had to tell himself as he was passed from agent to agent in the safe houses. Many of them weren’t friendly and even those that were often didn’t have many shared interests with him. He reminded himself then that they weren’t there to become friends but to keep him safe. Here it was the same thing. He didn’t have to like Tucker, or even trust his façade of friendliness. He only had to trust him to do his job. Thus far, Tucker had done his job where James was concerned.
The two of them moved out of the safe house and into the parking lot. James was surprised to find the Studebaker parked next to Tucker’s vehicle.
“I brought it in last night,” Tucker said. He handed James his keys. James blinked and patted his bag where he normally kept them. Tucker must have taken them, but James couldn’t figure out when. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
“You things are packed in the car and you have turned in your apartment keys,” Tucker continued. “I drove the car around a while last night and ended up at a motel to see if anyone was following the car. No one did so it should be clean.”
“Should be?” James replied.
“Maybe park it in the garage instead of the driveway in case anyone is looking for it,” Tucker replied. “I filled up your gas tank. You’ll need to follow me. Oh and if anyone askes, I’m your friend Jake helping you move.”
“Jake,” James repeated.
“Don’t worry, the movers will get most of it,” Tucker said. He turned away and opened his car door. James stared at him for a moment and then turned to get into the Studebaker.
“Right,” James said as he started the engine. “Because carrying the couch in is my biggest concern in this scenario.”
James fastened his seatbelt and looked into the back seat. There was a box of books and a couple of duffle bags in the back seat. He assumed that anything else he put in the apartment was stored in the trunk. Tucker was pulling out of the parking lot, so James stopped worrying about what was packed and simply put his car in gear and followed Tucker away from the safe house slash hospital.
The trip away from the safe house was long and winding. As Tucker didn’t seem to think anyone was watching, James guessed it was either an extra precaution or habit. He was fairly certain they doubled back a few times before heading into a residential neighborhood. To his surprise, James realized the neighborhood wasn’t too far from the office. His morning commute, should he stay with the job, would be cut in half.
“I’ll have to see what traffic is lie on Monday before I adjust my time,” James said to himself as he followed Tucker into the neighborhood. Tucker finally pulled into a driveway and James pulled in behind him.
“We beat the moving van,” Tucker said. “Nice. Let’s go inside and you can look around figuring out where you want things when the van shows up.”
“Right,” James replied. He and Tucker moved towards the front door and Tucker handed him a keyring with two keys on it.
“The keys should be labeled,” Tucker told him.
Ten til Midnight 