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 93: The pages took her through parties and dances and the meeting of eligible bachelors from families Amelia’s family found acceptable.
The pages took her through parties and dances and the meeting of eligible bachelors from families Amelia’s family found acceptable. It was, in a strange way, like reading a historical novel. ‘Well it is a historical journal,’ she reminded herself as she set the book aside and stretched. She wasn’t sure how long she had been reading but decided she definitely needed a stretch and a bathroom break.
She stretched as she moved to the bathroom and after relieving herself she washed her hands and returned to the kitchen. She wasn’t hungry enough for a meal but thought something small to snack on wouldn’t be a bad thing. She opened the cupboards to look inside and surveyed the items wondering if anything looked good. Nothing appealed.
She closed them and opened another set, moving around the kitchen and peering at all the items she stockpiled. When nothing in the cabinets drew her in, she opened the fridge. She was contemplating pairing some cheese slices with crackers when the phone rang.
She had placed it on the side table and forgotten it. She closed the fridge and went back to the library. She picked it up and pressed the answer button before she looked at the screen.
“What have you done,” Jeanette’s voice screeched out as she hit the answer button,
“Excuse me?” Penelope said. She began to pace the library as she listened to Jeanette’s tirade.
Checks for Trinity’s birthday party bounced. The restaurant was not happy, gifts were being held hostage instead of being wrapped and delivered in preparation for the big day.
Penelope listened as Jeanette recounted the events that were somehow her fault.
“And I have been informed there is an audit,” Jeanette said. “Your father is not pleased. It doesn’t reflect well on him and there is the possibility he will lose business because of it.”
Penelope realized something that she hadn’t fully grasped the day before. Jeanette and Trinity didn’t have direct access to the accounts. Her father would have had to grant access to the money. The thought knocked the wind out of her and she sank into one of the chairs feeling breathless. She swallowed hard unable to form words as Jeanette continued with the litany of wrongs.
It wasn’t just her stepmother and halfsister. Her father had to have a hand in orchestrating things. His name was the only one managing it when she was underage. Penelope pulled the phone away from her ear and pressed the button to hang up on the call. Jeanette’s voice was cut off mid tirade. She wondered how long it would take before Jeanette realized that she was speaking to no one.
Penelope let the thoughts swirl. Yesterday there had been anger, now there was a deep well of sadness. She had never been close to her father. He was a barely there presence at the best of times. He was a name Jeanette invoked to get Penelope to fall in line when she was being ‘difficult’. Still realizing he was involved felt like a personal betrayal in a way Jeanette and Trinity’s pilfering didn’t.
With them she expected things to be taken and disregard given. With her father it was more benign neglect. He offloaded management of her to Jeanette who resented it. At least that was how Penelope always saw it. Justified it in her mind.
‘But this isn’t exactly benign. He was complicit.’ She wasn’t certain why the thought hadn’t occurred to her before.
Ten til Midnight 