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 37: Penelope parked and got out of the car.
Penelope parked and got out of the car. She realized she hadn’t brought any reusable bags, mostly because all of the ones she routinely used were part of the house’s collection and simply borrowed from Mrs. Lucas.
‘I suppose I’ll have to buy my own,’ Penelope thought as she slung her purse over her shoulder and made certain the car was locked. She slipped her keys into her pocket and walked towards the row of silvery carts waiting in the corral. There were a lot of them and Penelope wondered if that meant it wasn’t a busy time in the grocery store.
Routine visits were not something she did often. She popped into the store occasionally for a small something or other, but never really did any grocery shopping on her own. When she was younger Mrs. Lucas took her to the store and showed her how to shop for groceries though so even though she was out of practice, it wasn’t a completely alien place.
‘And if I am living on my own I need to get into a routine,’ she reminded herself. She thought of the break line. ‘After it is safe again. Just stocking up today.’
Penelope took the cart inside and as Mrs. Lucas taught her, she started on the outside perimeter of the store. Here was where all the fresh things were. From produce to dairy, meat and tofu. The fresh and requiring refrigeration items were on the outside ring.
She smiled to herself as she remembered Mrs. Lucas and her sniff of distain as she looked at the interior aisles and their pre packaged goods. She did not hold with most pre packaged items and always seemed to think it insulting that both spices and oatmeal were on the interior aisles.
‘She was most offended by the oatmeal,’ Penelope remembered as she started with the produce section, picking out fruits and vegetables she knew how to use and enjoyed eating. Mrs. Lucas held oatmeal in high esteem. It could be made into a nourishing breakfast food capable of sticking to the ribs on the coldest of winter days. It could be soaked and blended to make oat milk if necessary. It could also be used in breads and in cookies. It was her ultimate food. Penelope remembered the housekeeper glaring at the marshmallow infused cereals that dared to share the same aisle with her glorious oatmeal.
‘I probably should get a container,’ Penelope thought. She liked oatmeal well enough in all of it’s various forms. ‘Even if I don’t glare at the other cereals’
Slowly Penelope made her way around the perimeter. Knowing there wasn’t even salt, let alone spice in the cupboard, she also walked down each of the interior aisles. She added salt, pepper and a few basic spices as well as boxes of pasta, jars of sauce and much as she knew it would horrify Mrs. Lucas, several bags of instant noodles. She was partial to the Shin Ramen and suspected that with the amount of reading she would have to get through having a few nearly instant meals on hand wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Once the food was taken care of, Penelope perused the cleaning aisle selecting the items she knew would be the most needed. By the time she was done, her cart was heavily laden. ‘But it might be a few weeks before I have to leave the house again.’
She made her way to the check out and decided that self check out was not the way to go. She angled her cart towards one of the manned check out lines.
Ten til Midnight 