An hour later, three vehicles were lined up in the driveway at Stevie’s house. The city guys were there pumping the water out into the ditch that ran along the front of the place. The electric and gas people had come out, shut off the utilities, and gone on to the next house with problems. When as much water as they could get out was gone, Stevie put on a pair of Mia’s rubber boots and led the way inside. The sopping wet carpet squished with every step, and Stevie wanted to cry when she saw the condition of the sofa, the chairs, and the tables in the living room and kitchen.

“Let’s go to your bedroom first,” Mia suggested. “If your clothes are hung up, I bet they’re just fine. I’ll load them in the SUV. If they’re wet, then we can put them in garbage bags and start laundry when we get home.”

Glad that Mia had the foresight to think about where to start, Stevie just nodded and headed down the short hallway to her room. The bedspread had soaked up water from the floor and was wet all the way to the mattress. She opened the bottom dresser drawer to find wet pajama bottoms that already had black mold on them. When she pulled the next one up open, everything was fine in it.

Mia threw open the closet doors and squealed. “The boxes on the floor are soaked, but your shoes and boots up on the shelf are good and so are your clothes. I’m going to take them to the SUV on the hangers.”

Stevie went back to the kitchen and got a plastic garbage bag to use for all the things in her dresser drawers. Her suitcases were stored on the floor of her closet, so they would be ruined.

“The pipes under the sink burst,” Cody yelled from the bathroom, “and the supply line to the toilet.”

“The ones under the kitchen sink did the same,” Jesse called out.

Stevie stopped in the hallway and stared at a picture of her and her mother hanging on the wall. “Oh, Mama, what do I do?”

Cody came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “I’ll go to the grocery store and get some cardboard boxes to pack up all these pictures in. Even though everything on the floor is probably ruined, you’ll have some keepsakes left.”

Stevie turned around and laid her head on Cody’s shoulders. “That’s the most important things, right?”

“Yes, they are,” Mia said as she passed them with a load of clothing in her arms. “All this other stuff can be replaced, but pictures and memories can’t.” She didn’t stop but kept moving toward the open door. Every footstep made a sucking noise when she picked up her feet from the drenched carpet.