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 51: It made Penelope wonder.
It made Penelope wonder. She suspected he was seeing someone. She was also certain that Jeanette thought he was seeing someone as well. While Penelope did her best not to eavesdrop and to in general stay out of the way of both Trinity and Jeanette, there were snippets of overheard conversations. Combining the snippets let Penelope know Jeanette was worried he was seeing someone behind her back.
She was slightly amused that Jeanette seemed indignant that he would cheat on her considering her father cheated on her mother with Jeanette. ‘Apparently what you do shouldn’t be done to you,’ Penelope thought.
She shook it off and finished her last bite of pasta. “Not my concern,” she thought as she took her bowl to the sink. Not wanting to leave the remnants of the alfredo in the bowl, Penelope went ahead and washed her dishes, putting them in the dishrack. As she added the fork to the rack and turned off the water, the doorbell rang.
Penelope started as there were very few who knew the address. She dried her hands and went down the stairs to answer the door. She opened it and didn’t recognize the woman standing there.
“Hello,” the woman said. “I’m Marla Ericsen, I live next door.” The curly-haired brunette pointed to the house on Penelope’s left.
“Oh,” Penelope replied. “Nice to meet you, I’m Penelope.”
“Lovely to meet you.” A throat was cleared behind the woman and Marla rolled her eyes. “That would be Thomas,” she said stepping back. “He and Faith are your other neighbors.”
Penelope stepped outside the front door and looked to her right. A man and a woman about five years older than her stood there. She assumed they were Thomas and Faith.
“We have the neighborhood cocktail hour around this time when the weather is good,” Thomas said.
“Not always cocktails,” Faith replied. She rubbed her belly and Penelope could see she was pregnant. “Everyone just brings drinks and something to nibble down.” She gestured to the small table and chairs in front of the house. Penelope had moved the set out when she moved in earlier because the area seemed empty. She noted the other houses all had a set as well so it seemed the thing to do. Most of them also had potted plants to help liven up the spaces but she hadn’t gotten around to that yet.
Glancing down the street she saw all of the houses either had people sitting at their little tables or bringing things down and chatting with the neighbors to either side.
“Oh,” Penelope said. “That seems quite sociable.” Both sets of neighbors had refreshments out on their tables.
Ten til Midnight 