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 99: Gwen opened the first of the bags.
Gwen opened the first of the bags. Slowly items emerged. Gwen put them into two categories, the items she needed for the classes she was taking and the items her grandmother picked up simply because they interested her.
Gwen felt a little bit of relief when she found there were just as many, if not more items in her grandmother’s pile.
“George is going to think I’ve gone mad,” Margaret said as she shook her head. “Still they might be fun to play around with.” She clipped the last tag off of the garments and placed it in the pile. “I’ll just throw these into the wash and they can get that stiff newness washed out of them.”
“I’ll take the class stuff to the room so it looks like a smaller pile,” Gwen said. She still didn’t feel right calling it her room, but Margaret didn’t seem to notice.
“Good idea. After I get these going, I think I might just start putting the rest of the items away. Then they can just be surprises found in a drawer rather than just looming in a pile.”
They each went their separate ways and Gwen laid her items out on the bed. She looked around wondering where a good place to put them was. Items destined for a culinary class wasn’t something whoever designed this room planned for.
“Maybe just on the chair for now,” Gwen decided. She took the items and piled them in the side chair. She assumed it was placed there for her to sit when lacing up her shoes. “I can sit on the bed,” she decided. She tried to make the stack look as neat as possible.
“I’m going to need a bag of some sort,” she decided. She wasn’t sure if all of the items needed to go with her to class at the same time or not. “And it is for two different classes.” She left the pile a it was and returned to the kitchen.
There Margaret was placing various newly purchased items in different drawers and cabinets. “Get everything put away?” Margaret asked.
“It’s in the side chair for now so I guess that’s put away. I may need to get a bag of some sort.”
“Of course,” Margaret said. She clucked her tongue. “That should have occurred to me. You certainly can’t go wandering around with your arms full of things.” She frowned. “I wonder what sort of bag would be appropriate?”
Gwen shrugged.
“I bet there are some pictures on the websites,” Margaret said. She closed the drawer and went to retrieve her laptop. At the kitchen table the two of them looked over the websites for both culinary schools. They both showed people using items, some of them were even the items currently in Gwen’s room. They didn’t show them carrying them between home and the culinary school.
“Maybe just a simple messenger bag to start?” Margaret suggested. “Then if they have a specialty bag we can look into that?” As she had no other ideas, Gwen just nodded.
“You know,” Margaret said closing down the website. “I feel like Italian tonight. Are you interested?”
Gwen nodded. “I like Italian food.”
“Excellent, there is this little place just around the corner that we love.” Margaret went to retrieve the menu and their dinner was ordered. Margaret went to check on the laundry.
Ten til Midnight 