Take control

You process things quickly. “Right, we need a motel for the night and clothing for everyone except me. Night clothes and a change for tomorrow. Toiletries as well. Late night shopping means the mall should still be open. Then we need a motel for the night. Best book for a few days

“In the morning, Mark will need to go to the post office and rent a PO box there, with a mail redirect, if he can. We can’t go back into that building, and with asbestos I don’t know if the exclusion distance includes the mailbox.”

Thinking long term, “I don’t know what the insurance company will do, but they will probably try to get out of paying for this. If so, we will need money!

“I just turned 18, so I might be able to access my inheritance. Mother, tomorrow morning at 9, contact the lawyers and try to book an appointment. I will see what I can do. There will be problems due to me not having any ID, or a bank account. We also can’t go in the house for paperwork.”

Mark was angry, confused and in a state of shock.

He comes over to you and you can tell he is restraining himself from lashing out or at least shouting. “Who are you to tell us what to do?”

You don’t back down and snarl back, “The only one who is thinking long term here. If you have any other ideas, I’d love to hear them, because I have no idea what the fuck I’m doing!”

You think for a bit. “Why wasn’t the water turned off like I instructed? Whoever failed to do that might get a bit of the blame and have to fork up some repair costs.”

Sarah sighed. “Dad told them not to bother.”

“Damn! Cops these days wear body cams, so it would have been recorded.”

You look at each other and finally you ask the question you all wonder