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 139: “I would be happy to,” Gwen replied.
“I would be happy to,” Gwen replied.
The older woman smiled. “I’ll call the house to schedule something,” he promised. She looked around the group. You all have a lovely evening.”
There were murmured assents from the group and Kelly and Nico kept their bright smiles on until she moved off to another group. The smiles dropped and Kelly looked thoughtfully at Michael. “Aunt Bea?” she asked.
Michael shrugged. “She’s my father’s aunt so technically Great Aunt Bea, but she told me to drop the great part since she knows how fabulous she is without it,” Michael said.
He grinned with the last part.
“Her words?” Gwen guessed.
“Of course.”
“Well,” Kelly said. “I suppose we’ll be seeing you around,” she looked at Gwen. “You too I suppose.”
“Well we do have several more weeks of class,” Gwen said.
“True,” Kelly looked thoughtful and then smiled. “See you there.” She turned and Nico frowned before following her. Gwen sighed.
“You could always skip the art class,” Michael said.
“So, I’m not the only one who thinks the conversation was just tabled.”
“Oh no, she still has things she wants to say,” Michael said.
“She just doesn’t want to say them here,” Gwen said. “But if I dropped out of the class then she’ll probably just choose one of the other events to say them. Besides, I like the art class. And at least I didn’t get the punch bowl thrown at me.”
Michael smiled. “I don’t think you showing up here qualifies as a punch bowl throwing occurrence,” he told her.
Gwen took a sip of her ginger ale.
“Besides,” he continued. “There are no punch bowls.”
Gwen swallowed her drink and put away her concern over Kelly’s later conversation. She smiled. “So, is there an official list for incidents where emptying the punch bowl over someone is considered acceptable?” she asked.
Michael snagged a cheese puff from a passing waiter. “Oh yeah sure, loads,” he said. “But it can only be done if the inciting incident is on the list.”
“Inciting incident?” she asked. “Sounds like you are leaning towards lawyer speak.”
“Well, I think it might be better for me than doctor,” he shrugged. “At least for the moment.”
“And because you threw up when we dissected frogs in bio.”
“It squished,” he protested.
“Now, about this list?” Gwen prompted.
Ten til Midnight 