Welcome to the Fifteen Minute Novel. Each morning I spend fifteen minutes writing on a singular story line. Each morning starts with the last line of the previous day. The goal is to get a (very) rough draft out of the simple story idea and to avoid letting the story idea languish in limbo forever, actually writing it out. This is the third year I have done this writing experiment and each year I learn just a little bit about myself and the way I write as well as creating a framework for the story. But without further ado…
Day 27: There was a second slightly smaller suitcase and a matching carry on bag.
There was a second slightly smaller suitcase and a matching carry-on bag to go with it. It was a matching set of three and she could vaguely recall her father taking the small one for business trips and the middle sized on for vacations.
“I don’t know when he’d use the large one.” As most of her wardrobe was in the washing machine, Gwen concentrated on putting her makeup, hair accessories and other personal items together. In the bathroom she found herself amused as she surveyed the half empty sample sized products she used that morning. As she was so looking forward to using the smaller versions of the high end products she picked up, she hadn’t bothered to restock all of her regular items.
‘But there are still a couple of uses left in the high end ones,’ Gwen realized. ‘And as they are smaller sizes they will take up less room in the luggage. I can get to a drug store when I get there and just use these until I get there.’
Gwen gathered up all of her high end samples and added them to the items already lined up on her bed and waiting to be packed. Once she gathered all of them together, Gwen returned to her closet. She shifted her ruined dress from the night before aside, refusing to even look at it. While much of her everyday clothing was being washed, there were a couple of items still hanging that she thought might be good to take with her. As the only time she could recall seeing her grandparents was when they were dressed for the funeral, she wasn’t certain what their daily life would be like. She thought it best to have more than casual clothing with her just in case it was needed for something.
Gwen laid out the clothing and when the timer for the washer dinged, she transferred the wet clothes into the dryer and returned to her packing. With everything that wasn’t being dried gathered on her bed, Gwen started arranging things so she could try to fit the most into the space the luggage provided. When her clothing was dry she brought it back upstairs, folded it and began adding the still warm clothing to the suitcase as well.
It took the remainder of the evening but by the time it approached her normal bed time, Gwen was completely packed. She set the luggage off to the side. Two of the bags would be checked when she arrived and there was a rather full carryon that she would carry with her. Attached to the side of her carry on, was an empty water bottle. Once through security, she would find a place to fill it before she boarded the plane.
With the luggage set to the side, Gwen took stock of what remained. Her winter clothing was still in the closet and the chest of drawers. As she committed to only the summer, she didn’t think she needed to bring any of it. There were a few of the summer clothing items still left behind. Most of those items were worn enough that she knew she should probably get rid of them rather than pressing the items into another summer’s worth of use. Gwen frowned as she realized she packed most of her running clothes in the suitcase. Adding the items in had ben automatic.
‘I haven’t been running in months,’ she realized. She was on the track team, but gave it up when she started taking the extra classes and knew her schedule wouldn’t allow it. After that she still ran most mornings, but in the past few months with all of the exams and the planning she did for the dance and beyond, plus the part time job to save up some money to pay for the things she wanted for the dance, there hadn’t been time. The running fell from her daily activities list.
Ten til Midnight 