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 122: They gathered their things and headed towards the door.
They gathered their things and headed towards the door. Once at the door they scattered, each going their own way. Their association was too new to keep them together for long. ‘Maybe after a few classes,’ Gwen thought.
She suspected with more shared classes and possible group projects or assignment discussions there would be more post class association. For now, Gwen felt good about the people she met. ‘And at least I’m not being left out,’ she thought.
There were no pairings or groups going off without her. As Gwen walked towards the apartment, she realized that she wasn’t worried that people wouldn’t be friendly with her, she was worried that they would pair off as Lisa and Toby had and she wouldn’t recognize the signs.
‘Its not even people pairing up that bothers me,’ she realized. ‘Its that I wouldn’t see it.’
Gwen frowned to herself. She knew why it was a fear, but she knew it also wasn’t something she could dwell on. Dwelling on it would make her obsessed. ‘And possibly drive everyone else away,’ she told herself. ‘Besides no one else noticed either.’
She walked down the block. ‘Of course they could just be telling me that.’ She shook her head. It wasn’t something she was going to dwell on. It was done and she wasn’t going to go around thinking that everyone was lying to her.
The lobby of the building was quiet as she returned to the apartment building. Her class may have ended but the rest of the world, or at least the apartment building was already where they needed to be. She greeted the staff she passed and rode up alone in the elevator.
The apartment was as empty as the rest of the building. Gwen put most of her things away and changed into jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt before taking the cookies back to the kitchen. She placed the bag on the counter and took one from the bag, anxious to taste her own creation.
Worried about leaving a trail of crumbs and not wanting to dirty a plate, she ate the cookie over the sink. She bit in and chewed. She decided she liked the extra chocolate and then thought about the cost rations her instructor mentioned. She finished the cookie and washed the chocolate and crumbs from her fingers, drying them on a dish towel. She then returned to her bedroom and flopped down on the bed with her textbook, laptop and notebook. She glanced at the clock. There was still plenty of time before she had to meet Sebastian downstairs and go across town to the gallery art class. Her recommended supplies were placed in the chair by her bedroom door and when she got ready to go she would take out the baking class items and slip in the artistic ones.
For now, there was time. Gwen read over the lesson which had mostly to do with pricing out the cost of items made in the bakery. Examples were given and Gwen worked through them as though they were the equations for a math exam. The logic was simple.
She had to figure out how much the ingredients cost. Then she had to figure out how much time was spent making them for the labor costs and then she had to factor in things like how much it cost her to keep the lights on in the bakery and the equipment running. As she did not actually have a bakery or pay herself a salary, the ratios she was told to use for her figuring of cost was the cost of the ingredients times three to get the price of the item she was creating.
‘Seems simple enough,’ she thought.
Ten til Midnight 