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 140: To this he added the excess packing material he unwrapped from around delicate items.
To this he added the excess packing material he unwrapped from around delicate items. His kitchen ware slowly emerged from their cocoons and were placed in cabinets and drawers. Given how little he cooked, James was surprised at how much of it there was. Most of it looked brand new. As his mother bought most of it for him after his divorce was finalized it wasn’t that old in general and most of it had never been used in the time he owned it.
When he moved out, he bought a large apartment, moved the few things he took with him into it and then got back to work. His end of the settling into the new place took less than two hours. The apartment then functioned as a place to keep his bed and coffee pot and refrigerate the leftovers in the take out boxes.
His mother visited after she thought he was settled and was horrified that he was camping out. Having no time or really any interest in his surroundings he gave her free reign. She was pleased to help out and create a world for him that didn’t involve any reminders of Faith. During his marriage, his mother and Faith had a very good relationship. Faith became the daughter she always wanted and the two became quite close. His mother took Faith’s departure from the family quite hard and was glad to eradicate the last vestiges of her presence.
As James what he thought might be some sort of specialty bakeware into one of his lower cabinets, he wondered if his mother actually expected him to use the items she picked up or if it was some sort of attempt to help him lure a baker or chef into becoming his next wife.
‘Come with me I have all the specialty pans you could ever desire,’ he thought as he tucked some sort of muffin tin into a cabinet. Each of the muffins looked like miniature mountains or maybe castles, he couldn’t tell.
“As a pick up line it lacks a bit of something,” he told himself.
“Pick up line,” Tucker said.
James jumped. Somehow he forgot the agent was there.
“Sorry,” Tucker said. His eyes danced with amusement.
“No problem,” James said.
“So who are you trying to pick up? I could be helpful in that department.”
“Running background checks on potential dates?” James asked before he could stop himself.
Tucker shrugged. “All part of the package. But I was referring to my talents with the ladies.”
James nodded. While Tucker wasn’t what he thought of as classically handsome, he had seen the agent adjust himself to suit the situation often enough in the last week of acquaintance to guess he was adept at adjusting to social situations as well.
“Not so much as a specific person as my mother’s intent,” James corrected. While he didn’t know his coworkers that well, the women of the office were currently the only females he was coming into contact with and he didn’t want to drop the agent and his background checks on them unnecessarily.
James reached into a box and pulled out another decorative baking tin. “I don’t really cook, yet after my divorce my mother stocked my kitchen as though I was planning to lure and trap a pastry chef.”
“I see,” Tucker replied. “I’m sure we’ve already run a check on your mother, but if you decide you want to set her trap into motion I’ll start looking into where pastry chefs hang out.”
Ten til Midnight 