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 127: “The keys should be labeled,” Tucker told him.
“The keys should be labeled,” Tucker told him.
James looked at the keys and sure enough saw one with the words Front door written on the white label attached to it. He inserted it into the lock and turned. It clicked open loudly and James turned the knob opening the door.
The scent of industrial lemon scented cleaner greeted his arrival. It was a puff of scent so strong that it had an almost physical presence. He could practically see it hanging in the air.
‘Like the dark squiggles around Pig-Pen in the old Charlie Brown Cartoons,’ James thought. He stepped inside, Tucker following him and closing the door behind them.
“The house is a rental,” Tucker told him. “For now in a different name than James Ferris in case anyone is watching. We’ve covered the next six months as we would have done in the apartment.”
James nodded as he looked around. By the door was a small square of white tiles, presumably to take off wet or muddy shoes without damaging the carpet. The carpet was a shade that flirted in the divide between off white and tan. He thought calling it beige might be giving it pretensions it didn’t deserve as it seemed so indeterminate a color as to defy official naming.
The carpet stretched from the front door and off to the right where it spilled into a large living room. It was a wide open space that seemed vast after the smaller apartment. The walls were a plain white and ran directly into the white textured ceiling with no molding to separate the two. Off to the left, the carpet faded back to white tile to form the kitchen floor.
The kitchen was full sized unlike the apartment’s kitchenette. James let his steps walk through it and found there was a breakfast nook for a small kitchen table right off the back of the kitchen. The large windows overlooked the back yard. The back yard was a plain fenced in square of yard with nothing to mar the roll of green grass. At the back of the breakfast nook, James found a small utility room housing the water heater and washer and dryer. The appliances looked new and he was glad he would not have to pick up appliances before Monday. As most of his work clothing was now in the needs to be washed pile, not having to find a laundromat or purchase an appliance in the next twenty four hours was a relief.
James left the laundry and breakfast area, Walked back through the kitchen and found another door off the kitchen. This one was a dining room and had large windows facing the front yard. As he looked out of them, he saw a moving van pull up in front of the house.
“I’ll move the cars so they can get into the drive,” Tucker said. “You take a peek upstairs so that you know where things go,” he said.
James nodded and tossed his keys to Tucker. Tucker caught them easily, turned and opened the door, leaving to deal with the movers. Thinking he should hurry, James walked to the stairs to take a quick look at the second floor.
Ten til Midnight 