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 181: Gwen checked the time on the clock.
Gwen checked the time on the clock. It was only a quarter past seven. Since she wasn’t running she was getting started earlier than planned. “Okay,” she told herself. “As long as I don’t lose track of time this could work.”
Still in her pajamas Gwen went upstairs to dress and begin to take a second pass through her things to decide what she really needed to take with her. By the time the clock in the hall chimed nine, Gwen had another bag to go to donations and was really happy with the amount that remained. She was confident that it could fit in the car along with Michael’s things. She also made a list of things she would need to pick up when she went shopping.
‘And since some of those things are bags for packing then it isn’t like I am running away, I am actually shopping because I need to.’
Gwen gathered clothing she would be willing to wear outside of the house and went to shower off her morning’s efforts. A short while later, she was dressed and heading out the door, list in hand, ready to both shop and avoid an awkward interaction with Toby.
‘Two for the price of one,” she told herself as she pulled out of the drive.
Traffic was light in her neighborhood as most people were at work. It increased as she got closer to the shopping center and thoughts of Toby slipped from her thoughts as she tried to decide which order she wanted to visit each store. She pulled into the parking lot of the first store on her list and began her gathering expedition.
Gwen flitted through departments taking her time and thinking about what she really needed as she moved. While she was avoiding Toby, Gwen also felt she was ahead of schedule in her packing. Soon everything she was taking with her would be gathered and ready to go. Morgan, the real estate agent vetoed taking Gwen’s bedroom furniture to the new apartment as it worked well in the space.
‘I suppose I’ll have to put my things in the garage after they photograph the garage,’ Gwen thought. ‘Probably a good thing I’m not in town long.’
As she strolled through the aisles, Gwen realized that she was eager to be gone, eager to get on with her plans moving forward. She enjoyed having plans with friends while she packed and seeing everyone one last time before she headed back to her grandparents, but she was starting to feel less and less like this was her place.
While getting together the night before had been fun it also brought out the fact that this was no longer really home. While a couple of her friends were going to State in the fall, the university was only about an hour away from Westport and many of them would even be commuting instead of living on campus. There were those going to the local community college and still others who would just be getting jobs or traveling for a gap year. Regardless of their path, theirs were all still rooted in Westport. Gwen felt like she was pulling up her roots.
Part of it, she had to admit was the selling of the house. The rest was that she was being transplanted elsewhere, her roots buried in different soil, so to speak. When she left again, Gwen wasn’t entirely certain when she would be back. For holidays, they tended to travel. Gwen remembered more Christmases in hotel rooms and cruise ships than she did at the house. ‘I would either fly out to meet him or Dad might come to my grandparents,’ she thought. Either way she suspected it wouldn’t involve Westport.
Ten til Midnight 