On the way back to the motel, I thought of
linus52.
Quick version:
Showed up in Massachusettes. Met with my brother and father. Went onto my Mom's new place. Smoke alarms went off. Figured out it wasn't my Mom's apartment that set them off. Went outside and called fire department. Fire department showed up. Nothing in my Mom's apartment. Upstairs apartment *filled* with smoke. After waiting, apartment was cleared and we went back inside. Mom cuts her finger peeling potatoes.
All is okay, and we actually had a lot of laughs, but wow. It's weird to have a smoke alarm going off and being something. With all the times I spent waiting outside a dorm because some jackass was bored and pulled an alarm, at first we didn't think it was a real problem.
Turns out we called in time to prevent a real problem. If we'd waited a lot longer, there probably would've been a serious fire. Instead, it seems that the girl in the upstairs apartment doesn't really have any smoke damage.
Oh yeah, free wifi in motel :)
Good night.
(Oh yeah, I thought of
linus52 because of his "Blood. Smoke. If your problem doesn't involve one of these, come back later" Sign. I actually debated calling him up :) )