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 243: ‘And he did get shot for me.’
‘And he did get shot for me.’ It was not an inconsiderable bonus in James’ mind. As he thought about it, James let the canned laughter from the television sitcom wash over him. He didn’t actually remember what show it was and didn’t really think it mattered. He looked at the scree as one of the characters started talking various cell phones from pockets and his brief case.
One cell phone was for work, one for home, a third for personal and private calls, a fourth for personal and private calls he wanted to keep separated from the first set of personal and private callers and a fifth finally emerged ‘for emergencies.’
There was a joke that James assumed meant more to the people actually paying attention to the show and the audience laughed. ‘Or a laugh track is playing.’
James shook the thought way. It was a silly scene meant, he supposed to illustrate the trouble the character went to in order to keep his many girlfriends from finding out about each other.
‘I have a cell phone contact for Morris,’ James recalled. It was in his cell phone contacts. He couldn’t remember if it was given to him for emergencies on the off chance he couldn’t reach Carson or if it was given to him after Carson died.
‘But the point is that I have it.’
There was the off chance that the number no longer worked. He didn’t know if Morris was working from home while he recovered, if he was fully recovered of if he had been retired after his injury. James hadn’t heard anything from the agent after he left the safe house.
‘Calling him would be one way to find out if I am just being paranoid about Tucker.’
James leaned back on the couch as the onstage Lothario was found out by each of his girlfriends, each of them dumping him in turn. He wondered if his phone calls and e-mail were being monitored. He suspected they would be. ‘If they weren’t before, the longer Cassie stays gone, the more likely I’ll be watched.
James thought about his work phone and suspected that too might be watched. He looked again at the screen as the now single man declared that at least he could now save money on his phone bill.
‘A second phone shouldn’t be too hard to get.’ He thought about it as the episode wound down and another one started. From his conversation with Tucker, he knew that he was being watched. Even if his phone and e-mail wasn’t being monitored then Tucker was at least visually watching him.
‘But he is watching from afar,’ James said to himself. ‘He didn’t know I went into the dive shop, he just knew that I went into the Old Town District.’ He wondered if the lack of knowledge was because parking was so bad or because he was hanging back far enough not to be noticed.
James thought of his other habitual locations, somewhat amused to find that he had a set routine that was easy to identify. As a mused as he was by how far he actually settled into his new life, it did present a problem. ‘Deviations would easily be noticed.’
Suddenly, a light bulb flickered.
Ten til Midnight 