before. His crew had teased him, put a paper crown on his head, and taken pictures he secretly kept.
I expected the same chaos.
But when I arrived, the station was strangely silent.
No television.
No jokes.
Several firefighters looked at me, then quickly looked away.
“Is Tyler around?” I asked.
Nobody answered.
Then Captain Reyes stepped out of the back office.
I had known him for years. Normally, he greeted me with a joke.
This time, he looked at the balloons, then at me.
“You don’t know yet?”
My
