The Fifteen Minute Novel is a novel written fifteen minutes at a time with each week day’s section starting with the sentence from the previous day. At least it is attempting to be a novel. For now I am just aiming at one continuous story, worked on for fifteen minutes each day. Started Friday January 1st, 2021 (in case you want to search for the beginning. I can’t wait to see where it ends up. It could be good, or it could be a mess. We’ll have to see. For now, here is today’s fifteen minutes.
Day 131: “Call me Sunday afternoon. You have my number?”
“Call me Sunday afternoon. You have my number?”
James nodded. “I do.”
“Good. By then I should know if it is all clear. Hopefully you won’t need a shadow for much longer and can start setting up your life.”
“Right,” James replied. He followed Tucker to the door and watched him open it. James moved to the doorway and watched Tucker walk to his car. The agent got in, pulled out of the driveway and drove off. James took a moment to stare at the empty space. He shook his head and stepped back inside, closing and locking the front door as he did.
“Well if the cable guy is coming soon, or at least soon-ish, maybe clearing out the living room first is a good plan.” James un rolled an area rug and laid it across the bland carpet. It was an abstract design that was predominantly blue with accents of green and dashes of yellow. He remembered someone stating that the yellow added drama and wondering why he would want a dramatic area rug.
He shrugged and moved his less dramatic couch into place. From its location he could lay on it and watch television or he could si on it and converse with people sitting in the two arm chairs for the room.
“If I move the arm chairs in place,” he told himself. “And if I had people over.”
While people seemed a dim possibility, James moved the chairs into place, added the coffee table and stepped out of the seating arrangement. A couple of his book cases were placed against the back wall flanking the windows looking into the front yard. He couldn’t think of a better place for them so he left them there. Many of his boxes marked BOOKS were placed on the shelves to get them out of the way. James took down one of the boxes, opened it and began placing the books on the shelf.
He continued opening the book boxes and placing the books on the shelf. When each box was empty, he opened it so it would lay flat and leaned the empty boxes against the wall below the window. It kept them out of the way yet let him feel as though he was making progress. When the boxes were empty, he still had several shelves empty.
James moved a floor lamp and an end table into place and realized the living room was actually as established as he could make it. The furniture was in place and the boxes were emptied and out of the way.
“Cable can soon be established.” Looking around he saw the kitchen was in a less fit state. Boxes were placed on the counter top and were stacked against one wall. Curious as to what sort of kitchen things he actually had, James moved in and began the task of unpacking the boxes there.
He was halfway through the unboxing progress and wondering where he was supposed to put a wine fridge, when a knock sounded on the door.
“The cable man cometh,” James said. He straightened, leaving the wine fridge where it was and walked to the front door.
Ten til Midnight 