Chapter 10
They weren’t long at the fire station. Jo went in and signed papers. She had never even considered that someone would have to pay the bill for the firemen to put out the fire, but Captain Evans carefully explained that, since it was decidedly arson, and a crime, they wouldn’t charge her for the response. He again told her he was sorry for her loss, and they were on their way to the mobile home park.
When they arrived, Charlie’s mom and both of Alex’s parents were already there. Sam Turner had gotten an employee to take over for him at his travel agency, so he could help Jo out. Jo bravely held back tears as she gazed upon the remnants of her life. The firemen had moved the scraps of roofing that were left, and piled them up off to the side, so that you could see into what was left of the mobile. There was no support structure remaining at all. Just four or five of the corrugated tin siding pieces standing upwards from the heavy metal frame was all that hinted there was a mobile there once. The entire interior wall, studs, supports, ceiling, and insulation had evaporated. The fire was intense. Jo felt there was little hope of recovering anything at all.
The two mothers were standing under where the kitchen had been. They did find a few pots and pans. They were badly burnt, though, and plastic handles on the pots were all melted. Several glass baking pans were also discovered, but the intense heat from the fire cracked and shattered each one. The stainless steel cutlery that Jo had used her entire life was discovered, but was deemed unsalvageable as well. There was just too much damage on everything. The oven and refrigerator had been moved from inside the frame, and placed away from the rest of the debris. Jo tried to pry open the oven door, but it was heat-welded shut. She was pretty sure there was nothing in there anyway. The refrigerator was standing ajar; one of the hinges seemed to have come off. The insides of the fridge were black. It too was a total loss.
The living room area gave much the same story. As with the large kitchen items, the sofa and recliner shells, what was left of them, had been removed from the rest of the burnt out shell. Jo asked Alex and Kyle, who were searching that area, to look for a family photo that had been hanging on a wall in the living room. It was the only photo Jo had ever seen of both of her parents and herself. Jo had been a tiny infant when it was taken, and she was sure there were no others like it. She hoped they could find it, but had little hope that it had survived the flames. Meanwhile, she and Charlie were heading to the area where her bedroom had been.
She couldn’t stop the tears from running as she waded through her charred belongings. Her bed frame and box springs from her bed were sitting directly as they had in the room. It was as if the floor below them had vanished, and the bed fell through, and burnt up. From there, she worked her way through the piles, picking up each and every object she could find, hoping for a miracle. A few feet away, Charlie found one.
“Jo! What’s this?” she exclaimed, and turned around to face Jo. Charlie held out the tin box of treasures that Jo had had since as long as she could remember.
Jo’s face lit up. “My treasure box!” she carefully stepped over to where Charlie was, and took it from her. It took a bit of work, but Jo got the catch to open, to check inside. She gasped, as the contents were revealed. Everything inside was perfectly safe, though it was ash covered and smelled of smoke. The tin box itself was destroyed, but it had done its job well. There was a newspaper clipping she had kept, several photos of her and Alex and Charlie at different stages of their friendship, the tassel from her graduation cap. And at the bottom, was a long thin box that used to be white, but now gray with soot and ash. She carefully pulled it out and opened it. She inhaled sharply, and then let out a deep sigh. Her diamonds, she had found them. The very last thing her mother gave her was safe, and recovered. She couldn’t stop the tears this time, as she hugged Charlie. They were both excited, so of course the others came over to see what all the to-do was about. Everyone oohed and aahed over the find, and Alex hugged Jo too. This was wonderful news!
The group sifted through the rest of the ashes. There was almost nothing that could be saved. Alex’s mom found one tin baking dish that had survived the heat but was twisted and bent from something heavy sitting on it. She decided it wasn’t worth it, and laid it in the pile with the rest of the rejected items. Alex found a round tin that seemed to have held cookies at one point, but it was sealed tight and wouldn’t open. She shook it, though, and heard something rattling, so she showed it to Jo. Jo wasn’t able to open it either, but put it with her treasure box to take away with them. The biggest find of the day, besides Jo’s treasure box, was from Alex’s dad, Sam.
“Jo,” he called, “I see you are a lot like Alex. You forget to take your clothes out of the dryer, too.”
Jo was a little puzzled at his reprimand, and then her jaw dropped as she realized what he was saying. He had found some of her clothing! She rushed over to where he was standing next to the burnt up washer and dryer.
“It was pretty tight to get open. It was as if the metal had swelled, but once I got in there, I found this,” he held out some clothes to Jo. She took them and shook them out, to see what was there. Other than being a little sooty, and smelling badly of smoke, they appeared undamaged. She was grinning as she examined them: three pair of jeans and six shirts. She breathed a huge sigh of relief. This would help a lot!
They worked until almost dusk, and realized they were all tired and hungry. There was nothing else salvageable, it was decided, and they piled up what they could, and called it a day. Mindy Allen announced that she was providing dinner for everyone back at her house, and everyone was to come home with her.
As Jo was picking her way carefully out of the mobile frame to exit the rubble, she saw the funny man with the floppy straw hat from a few doors down was out walking his dog. She had never talked with him before. He was relatively new, had only moved in a couple weeks ago if she remembered right, but it seemed he was headed her way, so, once she was clear of the frame and debris she stopped to talk to him.
“I’m sorry to hear about your mother, miss,” he said to her sincerely. “And then to have this happen on top of that is just appalling. Were you able to salvage anything at all?”
Jo was sure he was just being polite, but she was feeling okay for the first time all day, and decided to share her news. “I did find a few treasures that the fire missed,” she offered. She didn’t even think to be suspicious of how he knew of her mother’s death. It had already been in the news that day.
“But this was your home. Where will you live now?” Jo had no idea how genuinely interested he was, or she would have been wary of his manner, but he was a harmless nosy neighbor, she surmised, and answered him honestly.
“My friend Alex and her parents have offered me their home until I am on my own. They took me in last night. They are wonderful people, as are the Allens, my other friend and her family.” Alex and Charlie had both come over to where she was, so Jo grabbed each of them with one of her arms, and interlocked herself with them.
“Did you find any pictures in there? I mean, that would be awful to lose your mom, then to not have any pictures on top of it. Just horrible.”
“Oh, I have quite a few pictures of me, and my mom and dad when I was a baby. Well, the pictures I have are of my mom and me or my dad and me, all when I was tiny. Oh and there’s a few of my mom and dad together that were taken at their wedding, and on their honeymoon. Things like that.”
The man seemed excited by that. “That’s great news! How ever did they survive the fire?”
“They didn’t,” she replied. The man looked at her puzzled. She went on to explain. “Alex and I had been looking through them when the phone call came to go to the hospital, and I unknowingly took them with me because they were in my hand. I didn’t even realize I had them until later, but now I’m glad I did. They are all I have left. That and my memories. The one photo that I didn’t get was one that was taken of the three of us, a family portrait. It was a studio type picture, and I was barely a month old in it, and it was hanging on the wall in our living room, so it was lost in the fire.”
“I’m so sorry,” the man sympathized with Jo. “Well, I can see you folks are wrapping up here, so I will take Toby on back to our headquarters.” He nodded and touched his hat, as if she were a fine lady and he was bowing to her, and then led his dog back to his mobile. Jo grinned at his funny ways. What a nice man, she thought. Too bad she hadn’t gotten to know him sooner. She never would now, since she wouldn’t be living here anymore.
The three groups separated and piled into the three separate cars. Mindy went in her vehicle back to her house first; to make sure everything was ready for the impromptu guests she was bringing home. Sam and Kendra followed her, and Kyle left with the three girls again.
On the drive to Charlie’s house, they went over what they had discovered. Jo got some of her clothing back, her graduation diamonds, and a mysterious round tin container. Other than that, the home was a total loss. Well, the pictures she had taken out before the fire, too. Those were invaluable to Jo. She was very glad they were safe.
Once they arrived at the Allen’s home, and everyone walked in, they all headed to the dining room. They ate ravenously of the roast with potatoes and carrots that the Allen’s cook had prepared. There were biscuits, too, and some kind of fruity salad. They ate until they were full, letting the cook know how wonderful everything was. Mindy presided over the table like a queen, making sure everyone was happy. Once all the dishes were cleared away, the cook entered the room with a large, beautiful round cake. On top of it there were lit candles, and Jo didn’t realize what was happening until the cook placed the cake in front of her and everyone started singing.
“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Jo, happy birthday to you!”
Jo smiled at them all through her tears. She was so very glad that she wasn’t alone today. She was grateful to have such wonderful friends to stick with her through this time. The fact that it was her birthday today had little impact on Jo. She had totally forgotten about the celebration part, in light of the responsibility. Even though she realized she was eighteen now, the actuality was that she had forgotten it was something to commemorate. There was too much sorrow today to think of the joy, so they thought of it for her. She was thankful.
Jo closed her tear filled eyes to make a wish, then after a moment blew out the candles and everyone clapped. The cook took the cake away to slice it, and brought back small plates and passed them around to each of them. Alex handed Jo a small, colorfully wrapped package across the table.
“I got these weeks ago, before all of this Jo. I hope it’s still okay.”
Jo smiled at her, and opened the box. Inside she found a beautifully bound book of poetry by one of her favorite poets. Jo was pleased and ran around the table to hug Alex.
“Of course it’s okay. It’s better than okay. I lost all my precious books in the fire. This will be the start of my new collection.”
She had just gotten back to her seat when Charlie, sitting next to her, handed her a box.
“I know you think I forgot your birthday when we ran off to New York yesterday,” Charlie explained, “but I hadn’t. Lila was going to deliver this to you today for me.” Jo looked up at the Allen’s housekeeper, Lila, and Lila smiled and nodded at Jo, confirming what Charlie had said. “So now I get to give it to you in person.” Charlie concluded.
Jo took the small box and unwrapped it. She sifted through the tissue paper inside and found a small locket, on a long gold chain. On the face of the locket, between all the flowers and designs in the gold heart, there were the letters “B F F” meaning Best Friends Forever. Jo touched the tiny catch on the side to reveal what was within, and found a picture of herself, Charlie, and Alex, arms around each other, smiling and happy. It was a beautiful picture. She hugged Charlie and thanked her, then passed the locket across for Alex to see. Alex came around and hugged Charlie and Jo together, they then all stood up and made the exact pose from the picture, to make their parents laugh. It worked.
Soon everyone was finished with cake, and Charlie’s dad, Brad, asked if Jo would come into his study; he needed to talk to her; he had some news to share. Jo looked up, surprised, and saw a smile there, not a frown, so, breathing a sigh of relief, followed him to his study.
Once she was settled, he began. “Jo, I’ve been making phone calls today, in the capacity of your lawyer. I have made a lot of headway, and wanted to share it with you. I’m hoping it will ease your mind.” He picked up a paper from his desk. “First, I obtained a copy of the police report for the traffic accident. They found it was one hundred percent the other driver’s fault, so toward that end, I contacted both your mother’s insurance company, and the other driver’s insurance company. The other driver, who is, by the way, in jail awaiting his hearing, had previous convictions for drunk driving. Because of that, his insurance demanded he pay for a higher amount of coverage. They will pay his full covered amount for bodily injury, which was three hundred thousand dollars.” He heard Jo gasp as he continued. “But that has to pay the hospital bill too. If it doesn’t cover the hospital bill, then we could go to court for more. However, I looked into the man’s history. He doesn’t have any money, and his home he was living in was a rental, and a dump. Since he will most likely be going to prison for ten years for vehicular manslaughter, I doubt we will be able to recover any more than the insurance will pay.”
Jo nodded that she understood, and he continued.
“I did contact the hospital, but since your mother only passed away this morning, they don’t have an accurate itemization of the bill. They did assure me, however, that they would stay under what the insurance paid, no matter what. They will write off whatever they need to, to make sure that you aren’t responsible for any bills from the hospital. Because of that, I do not know yet if you get anything from the bodily injury portion of the insurance, and we won’t know for a few days. However, you won’t owe any hospital bills, and that was one concern you had.”
Jo nodded again. She sighed in relief.
“For the property damage portion, the insurance company normally only pays replacement value. The value of your mother’s car was so small, though, that they agreed to a five thousand dollar settlement for that portion. I know we could probably get more if we went to court, but the insurance company has the law on their side in regards to the property damage, and again, the man who caused the accident has no cash to contribute. I believe five thousand dollars is fair considering the true value of the twenty-five year-old car your mom was driving.”
“There was no way that car was worth five thousand dollars. It was wonderful you got them to agree to that much,” Jo agreed. “Thank you.” This was painful, but necessary, she knew, but she was glad she was going to get at least the five grand. She could pay back the Turners for the funeral expenses now.
“There’s more, Jo,” he told her. “I was able to find out that mobile home, too, was also insured. You got the paperwork from the fire department today, right?” He asked her. Jo nodded, yes. “Once I fax a copy of the incident report to your homeowner’s insurance company, you will be receiving another five thousand dollars from that coverage in a few days.” He smiled at her, and sat back in his chair, signaling he was finished.
“Thank you so much. I am very grateful for all of your help. I wouldn’t have even known where to begin.” Jo sighed with relief that she didn’t have to start her adult life penniless as well as homeless. It was one thing to accept food and board, but she felt bad asking for money to replace her clothing, shoes, books, and stuff like that. And now she could afford to get the mobile home remains cleaned up too. She had been worrying about what to do about that huge bill as well. Her mind was wandering, and she stopped herself short, stood up, thanking him again for his help.
“I’m sure that I can’t afford your help, but I do appreciate it.”
“I was glad to be able to do my part, Jo. And don’t even think about paying. It was my pleasure.”
They went back out to the sitting area where everyone else was congregated, and then Jo ran out to Alex’s car to get the papers she had received from the fire department. She brought them in and handed them to Brad. Alex picked up her purse and stood, preparing to go, and her parents did the same.
“Thank you all for your help today. You are all wonderful friends, and I appreciate you,” Jo told them, once she had returned. “And thank you, Mindy, for a wonderful dinner, and my lawyer, Mr. Bradley Allen, for all the legal help.” They smiled at her as she collected the gifts she had received from her two friends. Then she accepted hugs from Charlie and her mom, and handshakes from Brad and Kyle. With a wave, Jo, Alex, and Alex’s parents left for the Turner home for some much needed rest. And that was Jo’s eighteenth birthday.