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 27: “Oh,” Mrs. Merriweather said. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Oh,” Mrs. Merriweather said. “I hadn’t thought of that.” The older woman chewed her lip. “Yes that would be a very good use of household magic for the evildoer.”
“Shall I check to see if the file is still there?” Penelope asked.
“Yes perhaps you’d better,” Mrs. Merriweather said. “I suppose I can get another copy if need be, but it was a bit ticklish getting it in the first place.”
Penelope put her cup and saucer down on the coffee table and stood. She left Mrs. Merriweather musing to herself in the living room and nipped into the library. She had only begun to take a look at the books on the shelves when the woman arrived.
“She said low down.” Penelope reminded herself. She dropped onto all fours to get close to the lower row of books. The lowest shelf near the door was filled with gardening books and Penelope thought they would be useful to flick through later as she tried to determine what was growing in her roof top garden. For now, she crawled past. It was the third set of shelves where she found books on household magic.
“The hand housekeeper was the first she found. When she pulled the volume from the shelf she saw the cover had a golden broom with little flecks of gold around it as though the broom sparkled. “Seems sort of spell book like to me.” She set it on the floor and peered through the gap. There did seem to be something behind the books. Penelope took down several other books from the shelf and then pulled out the file stashed behind them. She put the books back in place and picked up the file.
She stood and dusted herself off as she went back into the living room. Mrs. Merriweather looked at her and smiled, relief evident on her face.
“I am so glad,” she said. “Especially as I’ve recalled the Police chief we knew retired a few years ago., The new one is a younger man. We’ve no connections to him so I don’t know how we’d convince him to part with the file.”
Penelope walked over and set the file down on the coffee table. She sat down. It was a tan file, thick and slightly dusty. It didn’t look official but as she assumed it was some sort of copy of the original file she supposed she shouldn’t be surprised by the somewhat unofficial look of it. She leaned forward to open it and Mrs. Merriweather practically jumped up from her chair in an effort to avoid it.
“I can see why you are interested my dear, but quite frankly once was more than enough of viewing that. I would recommend you not look at it before bed. Gave me nightmares for weeks.” She stood, setting her teacup and saucer down on the desk with an audible click before taking a step back and running her hands over her clothes as though to brush wrinkles out. Her eyes stayed fixed on the folder. Her eyes grew shiny and Penelope thought she was going to cry.
Instead she turned away before tears could spill and sniffed as though holding them back. “I know you think I am silly,” Mrs. Merriweather said turning to look at Penelope. This time her gaze did not drop and she seemed to be ignoring the file. Her voice was thick with emotion. “But I just can’t go through all that again. I wanted you prepared, but I just…”
“I understand,” Penelope said.
Ten til Midnight 