The sandwiches were gathering mold in Roger and Mimi's refrigerator. They were away on their honeymoon but were returning later this evening. While they were away, their good friend Mark was house sitting for them. Every morning he would let himself in to their apartment one floor below his. Mark would water the plants, bring in the mail, and look around to make sure nothing seemed to be out of place.
After Mark made his usual round, he locked up and continued down the stairs until he was on the main floor. Outside, he would drop the loose change in his pocket into the man's cup, like usual. Mark would walk to the local coffee shop for the usual cup of coffee as dark as charcoal and a cinnamon raisin bagel. As the coffee's steam would drift up to the rafters, he would sit in his usual green canvas booth and read the New York Times; unaware that today would turn out to be anything but normal.
Mark took the bus to the airport at 4:00 to meet his friends, Mimi and Roger.
They were returning from their honeymoon to the beach. Once they were reunited all three of them took a taxi back to their apartment. When they were about a mile away from home a fire truck went screaming past. Mark said it was probably just a little fire someone started in a garbage can. As soon as those words left his mouth another fire truck zoomed by, this time it was accompanied by and an ambulance.
There were always police cars in their neighborhood so if they saw one of those it wouldn't have been a big deal. But seeing two fire trucks and an ambulance they knew something had to be wrong. No one said a word, afraid that what someone else said may be the same thing they were thinking.
After turning the corner, a large, billowing, black cloud of smoke met them. The taxi driver nervously said he had to turn around because it was too dangerous. Mimi insisted on staying so they unloaded the car and set off on foot into the smoke. Before their eyes, the place they had become so familiar with had become an unknown land. Choking on the dense smoke they rounded the bend to see their home engulfed in flames.
By now there were more rescue vehicles, some were rushing around to get to the injured, some were patrolling the streets to keep people away and prevent riots, and the rest were fighting the fire as it licked higher and higher up the old building.
All of a sudden two friends of theirs, Angel and Collins rushed up to them. Both were out of breath and had sooty streaks on their cheeks and hands.
Angel gasped, "We were upstairs setting up a surprise party for you when the fire alarms went off."
"Nothing seemed to be wrong but when we opened up the door we realized that the whole building was on fire," Collins panted.
After a long fight, the building collapsed sending an umbrella of ash and dirt over everyone. Benny a former friend of Mark and Roger, who is now the landlord walked up to them.
"The building isn't going to be rebuilt and we can't find a different place for everyone to stay," Benny reported. He gave them a grim smile and left.
Angel and Collins didn't live there, but their apartment was just big enough for two people, otherwise everyone could stay there. Mark had family living about two hours away but he didn't get along with them. The three of them decided to be homeless until they could make enough money to rent a different apartment. Since they were all familiar with the area, everyone knew which parks were safe at night and which streets the police patrolled most frequently.
The police dug through the rubble but nothing could have survived the fire. Mimi, Roger, and Mark still had the luggage from the trip but those were their only belongings. Their first stop was at a local food pantry to get some canned food and bottled water.
After that they went to a little neighborhood park nestled behind some vacant buildings. This park had a large pavilion so it would have decent protection from raging weather and the sweltering sun. The park would have been crowded with homeless people, but so few knew about it.
This is where the three of them stayed for two weeks. One day when Roger was out looking for aluminum cans to trade in for money he saw a shiny black car pull up beside him.
"What's your name?" the man inside asked.
Roger took a quick glance at the man and knew right away that it was Benny.
"My name is Roger, Benny" Roger retorted with disgust.
After realizing that so many of the people living in the apartment were homeless, Benny went back to his boss and told him that a building needed to be found for anyone who needs somewhere to go. His boss reluctantly agreed and one of the old buildings by the park was going to be renovated. When Benny was there to see the progress he saw his three old friends watching from a little park. He went over to talk to them and find out what they thought about the building.
All three of them loved the idea and couldn't wait to move in. Since this would be a new apartment building Benny said he would buy all of the things they needed to get settled. Once Benny left both Mark and Roger felt they got their friend back.