For those just tuning in, this challenge is about taking a story idea from bare bones idea into a fully fledged story by writing consistently every week day for fifteen minutes. The sentence I end with on one day, is the sentence I start with on the following. Part one was Bob’s story and has nothing whatsoever to do with the story below. Part Two follows a character named Penelope. I have a few basic sentences to act as road marks on her journey. I am loosely calling that an outline. We will see where she ends up by the time the story is done. For now, we start Part two of the 2025 Fifteen Minute Writing Challenge.
Day 21: It was densely packed into a tight bundle.
It was densely packed into a tight bundle. Penelope signed for the dense bundle of mattress and when the delivery driver had gone, she closed and locked the door. She then hauled the mattress up to the bedroom she chose. It was quite the effort. While the compressed mattress was more compact and easily navigated up the stairs it was still heavy.
She felt victorious when she managed to get the mattress to the bedroom. She then realized the industrial plastic used to keep the mattress compressed was not something she could tear with her fingers. She returned to the kitchen and after a brief rummage managed to find a pair of scissors in one of the drawers. She took them to the bedroom and then cut the mattress free from it’s plastic cocoon. Like a bedding butterfly it spread it’s wings, expanding and fluffing out before her very eyes. It was interesting to watch the compressed mass become a mattress again.
When it’s transformation was complete, Penelope shifted it onto the bedframe and went to retrieve her laundry basket full of sheets, blankets and her favorite pillow. She dressed the naked mattress and felt that her bedroom was now complete and ready for her when night arrived.
It was also the last immediate thing on her list. With the hamper she was sent there were groceries for the day, although she would have to go out later and find the nearest grocery store.
‘Food, water, electricity, bedding and mail,’ Penelope ticked off the important bits. “Need cleaning supplies,” she thought. She looked around. “Maybe a thorough investigation to see what I really need before I go pick them up.”
Deciding that she might as well start at the top, Penelope left the bedroom and took the small set of stairs up to the rooftop. The rooftop had been turned into a garden space. While there were two chairs placed companionably by a small table, it was the plants that dominated. There was a small greenhouse and potted plants galore. The pots were all on some sort of stand, she saw as she looked around the space. There were low stands only a few inches off of the wooden decking that was laid over the roof. There were some plants that were lifted off of the flooring by several feet and many of varying heights in between.
“Maybe to protect the roof below the decking,” she mused as she studied them. Some of the plants had not survived while others seemed to take the lack of attention as a challenge. They seemed to grow with profusion and looked ready to burst their pots.
“I bet some of them need to be repotted,” she thought.
While she studied accountancy there had been a gardening and horticulture class offered that she added as one of her electives. She found it fascinating and unlike anything she ever studied. Anytime she had a chance to add an elective that was plant based she did. She liked working in the school green house and wondered if she would ever get a chance to put those lessons to use in real life.
Ten til Midnight 