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 211: His cooking, while getting marginally better, wasn’t something he would condemn anyone to eating on a routine basis.
His cooking, while getting marginally better, wasn’t something he would condemn anyone to eating on a routine basis. “The pancakes aren’t bad,” he told himself.
In addition, to the reading and the swimming anf the running, the Studebaker was coming along nicely. It was slower as it was more of a project he tackled during the weekends and even then only when he was certain his neighbors were awake.
In fact he reached a point where he was going to need to go to a professional. He tuned up the engine and had it working as well as an older car could be expected to work. It would never purr like a sports car, but he was confident it wouldn’t leave him stranded by the side of the road one rainy evening.
The thought made him wince as he remembered the last break down, the flat tire, the old man. He hadn’t been thinking of them and he felt a flash of guilt. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He couldn’t stay in that place, he had to let it go.
“The seats now look nice,” James told himself deliberately shifting his thoughts back to the car. He removed not only the seat covers he put on the Studebaker, but removed the lightning flash ones on them when he bought it. The seat covers and cushions below weren’t worth saving. While he would never be a seamstress, he had mastered the art of the basic stitches he needed for the task. Replacing the cushions themselves was a relatively easy task involving foam padding and glue, among a few other basic items. He took some money out of savings to have someone else make the actual seat covers for him, finding a company on line. When they arrived, he only needed to do a few basic stitches once they were fitted.
The exterior was now the issue. He managed to buff out the bad patches where he could and cut out and replace the ones whose welds he couldn’t fix. Unfortunately his repairs, while leaving the car in much better condition, left it looking a little rougher than before. The primed layer no longer covered everything and James knew a professional paint job was somewhat beyond his skill levels.
“I don’t have the equipment for it anyway,” James said. He Thought about the auto parts store he found on one of his first forays in town as he turned onto the street by his house and parked. “They might know something.”
Mind on his car, James pulled into his drive way and got out of the Ford. “Well at least that car blends in a bit better,” A voice said.
James jumped, spun around and on impulse threw his gym bag in the direction of the voice. Tucker caught it with ease and smiled. “Not bad,” Tucker said. “It would have been better if you’d actually seen me before I spoke, but still not bad.”
James struggled to calm his racing heart. Tucker strolled over. James realized he dropped his keys and bent to pick them up. He straightened. “Come for your routine check in?” James asked. He was pleased his voice was calm and his heartrate was slowing back to normal.
Tucker tilted his head to the side. “I take it you haven’t seen the news?”
Ten til Midnight 