It would take about a week to sort out and organize everything.
All in good time, Josslyn thought to herself.
Now that it was past sunset and dinnertime, hot dogs and buns were grilled on a large electric griddle on the kitchen counter.
Caden and Trina sat in the formal dining room. He texted a deaf friend on his smartphone, and she played a game that she’d downloaded onto her tablet.
Caden looked up and glanced around the dining room.
“Have you seen Thor?” he signed.
Trina pointed to a corner, then returned to her game.
Caden tapped the side of his leg with the palm of his hand. Thor sauntered over to him, sat on his haunches, and panted. Caden patted the dog on the head for several minutes, then stopped to reply to text messages from some friends while he and Trina waited for dinner.
Nathan came into the dining room from the kitchen.
“Your mother wants to know if either of you have checked to see if Diva is all right,” he signed.
“She’s fine,” Trina signed. “Last time I checked, she was still in the master bedroom with the door closed.”
“Please go get her and bring her down so we can feed her.”
Trina went upstairs while Nathan returned to the kitchen to help Josslyn. He gathered the paper plates, Styrofoam cups, napkins, and condiments, which he set on the table.
“The hot dogs will be done in a few moments,” Josslyn signed to Nathan.
He noticed Josslyn had a confused look on her face with furrowed brows.
“What happened here?” Josslyn signed, a little perturbed.
“What?” Nathan signed. “What do you mean?”
“Well, look at it.” She gestured to the hot dogs and buns on the griddle. “Some of the hot dogs are burned and black in parts and the buns, too.” She looked at the heat setting and saw that it had been turned to high. “I could smell them burning while I was in the den a moment ago. Did you turn up the heat?”
Nathan shook his head. “I was in the dining room, asking the kids about Diva.”
Josslyn wondered if the dial for the heat setting may have been damaged while it was handled during the move. She knew it didn’t turn by itself.
“I’ll just make another set,” she signed to Nathan, then turned down the heat, threw the burned hot dogs and buns into the trash, and placed fresh ones on the griddle.