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 249: There weren’t any golfers playing as they ran and the golf course was simply a quiet and well-manicured field dotted with odd features.
There weren’t any golfers playing as they ran and the golf course was simply a quiet and well-manicured field dotted with odd features. James found he didn’t enjoy it as much as the park. ‘I suppose that means there is a good chance I’ll keep up with the running after the marathon is finished,’ James thought.
With his call into Morris, James felt less concern and was able to simply relax into his body, feel the movement and because he wasn’t trying to outrun his own thoughts, James was able to hold back and run with the others as a group instead of racing ahead. When they were through and heading back into the locker rooms to change clothes, James caught Gary favoring him with a frown.
“He thinks you are holding back now, since you ran so well on Friday,” he was told as they entered the locker room.
“Friday was just a bad day,” James replied. “I only run fast when my brain won’t shut down.” James gathered his things and went back to the house. There he showered, made a sandwich for dinner and relaxed onto the couch. Without the worry of thinking about Tucker, James found it easier to relax. He still wondered what Cassie was up to and if she was doing okay, but he knew that at the moment he could do nothing for her except not lead anyone to her location.
He never thought doing nothing would be so difficult. Still with Morris the one figuring out if there was something off with Tucker, it took a lot of worry off of James.
The week slipped past, quietly and easily. He pushed himself swimming, rolled through the routine of work, was favored with increasingly concerned looks from Gary as he refused to consistently run at a faster pace and then relaxed in the evenings. As the week drew to a close, James found himself looking forward to his diving lesson more than he was worried about what was going on elsewhere.
He started his Saturday like normal, with a swim at the club, but didn’t push himself. His dive instructor intimated that they were going to actually go into the dive pool today and he didn’t want to be worn out. James got to the class, signed in and after proving that he could remember the safety rules from the week before, he was let into the back room to change into his wet suit. He had significantly less trouble sliding it on than the couple who were taking the class with him. As he dressed, James realized that all his extra activity was starting to shave some weight off of him. He knew he had been tightening his belts lately, but hadn’t gotten around to replacing some of the garments yet.
‘Maybe that can be this afternoon’s activity,’ James thought. He made it back out of the pool well before the others and the instructor decided to get him started before working with the couple. The two of them went into the dive pool and James felt the tingle of excitement as he was able to put his skills to work. When the couple arrived, the instructor told him to keep practicing while he went to help the others.
By the end of the lesson, James was reluctant to get out of the pool, but forced himself to get up and change back into his street clothes. As he made it back to his car, he found he was already eagerly awaiting the following week’s lesson. James opened his car door and as he slid into the driver’s seat, his cell phone rang. Since James could count the number of people who had the number on one hand, he was surprised to hear it ring. He was even more surprised to see Morris number come up on the screen. James thought that if the agent was going to call him back, he would do so on the other phone while James was at work.
Ten til Midnight 