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 153: “I’ll get you a list.”
“I’ll get you a list.”
“I appreciate it,” James replied. Tucker stood by while James loaded his groceries into the car.
“Was this your only stop for the week?” Tucker asked as James closed the trunk and rolled the cart to the corral.
“Yes,” James told him. “My plan is to and from work all week with the excuse of unpacking for not going to happy hour Friday. At least for this week.”
“Let me know if it changes,” Tucker replied. James nodded and walked back to his car. He unlocked it, slid inside, locked it again and put on his seatbelt. Tucker stepped away and watched him as he pulled out of the parking space and headed back to the house.
To James’ relief, he not only managed to make it home with no surprise attack, but he remembered all of the appropriate turns.
“Let’s hear it for not getting lost,” James said as he pulled into his driveway. He got out of his car and walked back to the trunk. As he opened it and took the first of his grocery bags out, his neighbor came out with one of the children. It was a little girl with curling pigtails and a shirt covered in glittery rainbows. James smiled and waved receiving a smile and wave in return. They climbed into their family car and drove off as James began ferrying his groceries into the house.
The house was as he left it. No one was lurking in the corners or waiting to interrogate him. James managed to get all of his groceries onto the kitchen counter without incident. He locked his car, returned to the house and locked the door behind him. As he moved to the kitchen to unpack his groceries and stow them in the fridge or pantry, his cell phone rang.
James looked at the screen and saw Tucker’s number. “Hello,” he answered the phone. He felt a pit of dread open up inside his belly.
“I talked to the cable company,” Tucker told him. “Due to yesterday’s…events they are sending someone over now to connect your cable and internet.”
“Okay,” James said. The dread did not fade.
“I will be coming over as well.”
“Okay,” James repeated. The dread lessened a little bit. “What time?”
“Ten minutes.”
James opened his mouth to reply but the call had already been ended. “Okay,” James said a third time.
He set his cell phone down and reached for the bag with the frozen raviolis. Cable installer or bad guy with a gun, they still needed to go in the freezer if he wanted to eat them later in the week.
James continued putting away his groceries, trying to ignore the nerves in his belly. When ignoring them didn’t work, he tried making fun of them. Somehow his self-taunts about being afraid of the cable guy fell flat.
“At least Tucker is supposed to come with him,” James finally decided. He gathered up his empty plastic bags and reminded himself to pick up some reusable ones soon. As he placed them under the sink to be used later the doorbell rang. James instantly felt his heart jump into his throat.
Ten til Midnight 