The Fifteen Minute Novel is an attempt to take a single prompt and use the last sentence written each day as a start for the next day. This year I had several prompts circling around a similar story, so I have combined them. However, the story starts the same way each day, with the last line from the day before and a timer set for fifteen minutes. The hope is to end up with a complete, if very rough draft by the end of the year. Some stories are better than others, but I always learn a whole lot about my own writing when I do this so for me it is not only a nice way to work out a story, but it is a tool for helping my writing get better. And so, we continue this story for 2024 with…
Day 197: When the flight attendant moved to the intercom, Sophie slipped her magazine back into her bag.
When the flight attendant moved to the intercom, Sophie slipped her magazine back into her bag. This flight she knew would be longer, a lot longer. She waited to be called and when her row was announced she went to find her seat. She shuffle stepped with the line until she exited the line in her row. At the moment there was no one with her in the row, so she took the time to put her back on the seat, take out a magazine and a boon as well as her mp3 player and set them n the seat before rezipping her bag and stowing it away under the seat in front of her.
Her entertainment out, Sophie put the book, magazine and player into the pocket in the back of the seat in front of her and sat down. She fastened her seatbelt and waited to see who might be taking the seats next to her. When she purchased the tickets, they were empty. As the plane filled, she was delighted when they remained empty.
As the doors closed and no one took the seats next to her, Sophie breathed a sigh of relief. She would not spent the next long stretch of air time uncomfortably squished in an overly full row.
‘Let’s hear it for unplanned tips in the off season,’ she told herself as the pre-flight routine began. This time much of the safety protocols were on the screen in front of her. Sophie always found it amusing that while the actual flight attendants moved through the cabin closing bins and checking seats, the person on the screen showing how to operate the seatbelts and safety gear was also dressed like a flight attendant.
‘They could have gone with anyone,’ Sophie thought. ‘But I suppose they want people to take it seriously.
The safety video wrapped up and the screen went dark. The plane got into potion and the flight attendants settled down. No one moved as they taxied into position and leapt into the sky. Once the plane was level, seatbelts were unfastened, items to occupy passengers were taken out and refreshment carts were unbuckled from their own safety harnesses.
Sophie opted for music for a while and took out her book to read. It was a history detailing the rise of some of Italy’s great fashion houses. She also had a couple of biographies about designers. All of the books were old and picked up at discount book stores. Sophie’s plan was to read them and leave them somewhere along her route when she was finished with them, hopefully picking up replacements along the way.
The flight passed pleasantly. She read and used her music to block out the sounds of other passengers. If anyone had a problem anywhere on the plane then it wasn’t dire enough to impinge on her consciousness. When the can dimmed, Sophie put her book away and slept. When she woke, she shifted to Italian language podcasts to hopefully get her ears used to hearing Italian. She ate the meal offered and drank the free beverage.
It was nothing memorable, but Sophie hadn’t expected it to be. She expected that any memorable meals would be taken once she was on the ground.
She could feel the gradual descent of the plane even before the pilot dinged onto the intercom. She felt her excitement grow as she knew that she was approaching the end of the flight.
Ten til Midnight 