Head straight back to the apartment

Dan drove back in silence to the apartment. He mused over how his life had changed in a short time. Once he arrived at where their apartment was, he got out and took a deep breath. The building somehow looked worse than it did the previous day. The halls were eerily empty as he made his way to the second floor.

"Hey, I'm back" Dan called as he opened the front door. He stopped when he saw his mom reading a magazine on the air mattress. "It smells great in here," he complimented.

"Thank you, it's just something simple," she answered with a smile. "Food is in the micro. I finished cooking ten minutes ago or so. Wasn't sure how long you'd be. How are you? How was your day?"

"Thank you for cooking. It went really well considering, thanks. I'm going to get a quick shower," Dan said as he moved over to the bags that had his shirts in them.

"I'll warm up the food for you then."

That night, after Dan finished dinner, Laura told Dan what she'd been able to accomplish during the day. "I got in touch with another representative with the insurance company. I had to use some data to get a little more information about the sinkhole, but they seem receptive now that it might be negligence on someone's part. If they can sue someone to make money, we might actually see something back from all this," she reported with a strained smile.

"Anything will help. Any word about a mattress or two?" Dan asked hopefully.

Laura smiled and shook her head. "No, not yet," she answered. "I need to get a shower. Any idea what you'll do? I still need to make a call to the cable company tomorrow. I completely forgot to earlier. We can cut the cost of cable and just go with the internet."

"Being able to use my phone at least will be a small blessing," Dan joked. The true horror of not having something to occupy his time with really sunk in at work earlier that day. He thought not having the internet wouldn't be too bad, he was wrong.

"Okay, be out in a bit," Laura called as she moved toward the bathroom with a change of clothes. "Oh, I picked up some cards at the store. We'll play poker or blackjack like when you were a kid."

"Did you get the candy?" Dan called after her.

"You know I did!"