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 54: Penelope turned to look back at the house as though she could see the magical insulation applied to the building.
Penelope turned to look back at the house as though she could see the magical insulation applied to the building. There was nothing of course, at least nothing she could see that looked like magical shielding. ‘Invisible magical shielding.’
“Its one of the reasons that we chose to relocate to the family house when kids were on the way,” Faith said.
“Kids?” Penelope asked turning towards Faith. “Do you have others?”
“Nope,” Faith said. She rubbed her belly. “Twins.”
“Which in my family always means they will get the bloodline. With single births it is hit or miss but twins in our family always get it,” Thomas said. “Which is kind of a blessing.”
“Is it?” Penelope asked politely.
“We’re always opposites. I’m electric which, tends to set things on fire and my brother is more water based which tends to put the fires out.”
“Plus you have both wiring and plumbing if you need to renovate,” Faith teased.
“Handy,” Penelope said smiling. “So is that what you do?” she asked.
Conversation shifted out of the magical and into the more mundane. Faith worked in Fashion and Thomas was a graphic artist. Marlene was newly retired from teaching literature at the local university. They each drank their drinks and ate their respective snacks. All down the street there were people doing the same things. Sometimes they would leave their little patios, but for the most part they simply talked to their neighbors. On a signal Penelope didn’t hear, the others started packing their things up. Penelope glanced at her watch.
The happy hour lasted exactly half an hour. The others went back inside with a ‘see you tomorrow and soon the street was deserted. Penelope dragged her feet going back inside. She sipped the last of her lemonade and told herself she simply wasn’t ready to go in yet. She looked at the flowers and decorations the others had and then stood, looking at the front of her house. As she looked over the house, she told herself she was just trying to decided what sorts of flowers or topiaries to add or if things needed to be planted in the flower boxes outside the front façade windows. She was certain it looked that way to anyone watching.
In truth she had a similar feeling about going into the house that she had at the grocery store. Lingering felt right. She wasn’t certain why. She didn’t think there was anything in the house that would hurt her. ‘Or at least not anything that wasn’t there earlier.’
Still she felt the need to linger, to walk towards the gate and look up and back to the house. As she stood, she realized there was someone walking down the street. She glanced over but the man was staring intently ahead and not looking in her direction at all. It seemed rude to stare so she looked back to the house but she could feel him walking down the sidewalk. She moved away from the fence and shifted to look at Marlene’s topiary.
‘I should probably ask about them tomorrow,’ she decided. Looking at them she wondered if they needed less maintenance. The man walking down the sidewalk passed in front of her house. As he passed a casual flick of the wrist, sent an envelope over her fence and sliding down the pathway. It came to rest against her front door. The man didn’t slow down or stop; he simply kept walking. In a moment he turned the corner and was gone.
Ten til Midnight 