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 71: “So he had to join the group with Tracy to prove he could keep up?” Gwen asked.
“So he had to join the group with Tracy to prove he could keep up?” Gwen asked.
Alan nodded. “Pretty much. He sees everything in the spirit of competition. Tracy joined the company at the same time and therefore she is the one he competes with as far as anything with the company goes. Of course, Tracy doesn’t know this.”
“She doesn’t know he is in competition with her?” Gwen asked.
“It is in his head. I think he recognizes that others don’t view it the same way he does so he keeps it mostly to himself.”
“Oh,” Gwen said. She wasn’t entirely sure she knew how to respond to that. It seemed a little strange. “So when he approved my shoe choice?” She asked focusing on the part that affected her rather than Tracy for the moment. That one she would have to think about.
“It’s the clothes,” Alan told her.
Gwen looked down at her running clothes. “What’s wrong with them?”
“They are,” Alan waved about looking for the right words. “Put together,” he ended up with. “The shoes look broken in.”
Gwen frowned. “These were the clothes I had from track. Since we sometimes practiced running around town instead of just on the track Coach liked us to wear similar outfits so we were identifiable. Like a uniform, sort of,” Gwen explained. The set she was wearing was newly purchased just before she left the track team and hadn’t seen as much wear as some of her other clothing.”
“Oh,” Alan said. He nodded. “I suppose that makes sense.”
“Pretty much all of my running gear looks like this,” she said. “Is that going to be a problem?”
“No,” Alan said. He shook his head. “Peter has seen you run now, so he won’t think you just dressed up to pretend to be a runner.”
“Why would I pretend to be a runner?”
Alan shrugged. “Peter can get ideas in his head. I think he might have suspected you are your grandfather’s spy.”
“Spy?” Gwen said. “Why would my grandfather spy on people from his own company?”
“Maybe he thought we were plotting evil,” Alan said. “I wouldn’t worry about it.” They reached the apartment building. “And this is where I leave you,” he said. “I am heading out to the parking lot. I will see you on our next session.”
“Thanks,” Gwen said. She tried not to look confused. She stepped into the lobby and the clerk smiled at her again. This time he didn’t comment and she walked passed right to the elevator. No one commented on her sweaty appearance. In fact the clerk was the only one moving around. The entire building still felt night time dark, like the rest of the residents were still sleeping even though the city around them was slowly waking.
Gwen took the elevator to the upper floor and made it safely back to her grandparent’s door. There she remembered she didn’t have a key. She knocked and waited for someone to answer.
Ten til Midnight 