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 60: It was a loud and busy place with waiters circling like sharks and tables stuffed with people happily enjoying themselves.
It was a loud and busy place with waiters circling like sharks and tables stuffed with people happily enjoying themselves. There was a warmth in the restaurant and it felt welcoming. The welcoming nature was enhanced by the fact that the hostess welcomed her grandmother by name, seeming happy she returned.
Margaret and Gwen were shown to a table. They settle themselves as the host promised their waitress would be right by with waters and to tell them the specials. She left the menus on the table and headed back to great the next incoming guests.
“I didn’t know what you liked so I thought this would be a good first stop,” Margaret said. “They have just a little bit of everything. We will have to have a food discussion at some point though so we can make sure the kitchen is well stocked. It’s been so long with just me and George that I am afraid I simply restock the same groceries each week without thinking.”
“I’m not all that fussy,” Gwen said.
“Well you can think of it as part of our getting to know you process,” Margaret said. “I mean knowing whether or not you like mushrooms isn’t a big step but it is a start.”
“I suppose it is,” Gwen said. “And I do. Like mushrooms that is.”
“Do you?” Margaret said. “Well that is good to know.”
Gwen smiled and looked at the menu. She scanned through the options and thought about food as she looked at the list. Toby hated mushrooms. He said they grossed him out because they were fungus. She remembered having an entire conversation with him about the fact that they weren’t actually the same thing as athlete’s foot. It was a disturbing conversation to have and it hadn’t made a difference. He not only refused to budge on his stance but anytime she ate something with mushrooms he would make so many faces and occasionally fake wretch that she stopped eating them.
‘Kind of like Lisa with Tomatoes,’ Gwen thought. Lisa thought they look like little brains when they gushed out their seeds and inner pulp and refused to have anything to do with them. They too slowly disappeared from Gwen’s meals even though she enjoyed them. As she studied the menu, Gwen tried to put other people’s preferences out of her mind and concentrate on what she actually liked What she wanted to eat.
The task absorbed her and she was startled by the waitresses return.
“I’m sorry for the delay,” the waitress said placing the glasses of water down on the table. “Would you like to hear the specials?”
Margaret nodded and the waitress reeled off the specials of the day. Margaret ended up choosing one of the specials while Gwen went with a cheese and mushroom omelet.
“Can I have shopped onions added to that?” Gwen asked.
“Of course,” the waitress said making a note of the addition before taking their menus and heading back to the kitchen. Gwen smiled. She always liked the bite that onions gave to an omelet, countering the richness of the cheese and the earthiness of the mushrooms but Sharron repeatedly warned about bad breath.
Here it seemed less of a concern and more of choosing what she liked. ‘And it isn’t like I am on a date.’
Ten til Midnight 