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 155: Still, she decided shopping and returning home might be in her best interest.
Still, she decided shopping and returning home might be in her best interest. “I’d hate to give myself a heart attack while worrying about someone else trying to kill me.’ Penelope turned off the engine, picked up her purse from the passenger’s seat and left the relative security of the warded car. She felt a shiver from the cooler air as she stepped out of the warm vehicle.
Penelope made certain she locked the car, double checking by pulling the handle before she turned towards the green house. Even though Michaelson told her not to look for him, she couldn’t help but let her eyes scan the parking lot. If Michaelson was here, she couldn’t see him.
‘But I am not supposed to see him,’ she reminded herself as she walked to the greenhouse entrance. At the door, a warm earthy scent greeted her. She inhaled and found the scent oddly comforting. She pulled a large flat bottomed trolley looking cart from the corral and slowly began wheeling it down the first of the aisles.
At first the car seemed like a strange choice as she added a few small pots and a variety of seed packets. As she continued, it seemed like a much smarter plan. Most of the plants she picked up were small, but remembering the succulent at the bank, Penelope planned for expansion.
‘Not that I am going to make something that large,’ she reminded herself. ‘At least not on purpose.’
Thinking of Agent Michaelson pinned into the back corner by the sharp point of one of the not giant succulent points, Penelope steered away from anything with sharp pointy bits. There was a small section of carnivorous pitcher plants.
She paused by the section. They featured in many nature shows she watched and finding them interesting, she read up on them. For a while she debated them, seeing the little plants and thinking they could be fun. In the end she passed them by without adding one to her cart.
‘Later,’ she told them. ‘Once I am sure I am in control.’ She didn’t’ mind the small carnivorous plans eating flies or other bugs but she figured at some point they might grow large enough to need more than small insects. She didn’t want to be the reason the neighborhood cats went missing. So as interesting as she found them, Penelope left them alone.
She did give into the temptation of a trio of mini citrus trees. One was lemon, another lime and the third kumquat. She had always liked kumquats as she could eat them peel and all. “They should be fine in the roof top garden in the big pots I saw up there as long as they don’t grow too big.”
Looking at them, Penelope decided she would practice on the seeds and smaller plants first.
“They grow rather slowly,” A voice said. Penelope turned and saw an older man holding a basil plant.
“That’s good to know,” she said politely. She reminded herself to remember not to talk to herself in public.
The older man looked a little older than her father and he peered around her to study her cart. “Seeds, small plants and a few citrus trees. Hmmm, my guess is you inherited Jerome’s bloodline then.”
Penelope blinked in surprise.
Ten til Midnight 