The unpleasant job of emptying the desk fell to the most recent member of the crew.
He figured that he was asked because no one else wanted to do it. He had known the Fire Chief since he was a lad. They went to the same school. Their families knew one another and they lived just a couple of blocks apart. There was little difference in their ages, but he had only joined the fire service a couple of months back, whereas the chief had joined up straight from school and had given fifteen years of service. He had only been chief for a year or so, when his predecessor retired. He was very popular with all who worked at the station. He was known for his sense of humour and his fairness. It was with a great deal of sadness that he was packing all of his boss’s personal belongings into a cardboard box.
It was not the case that he had perished in a house fire while trying to rescue some elderly home owner. He didn’t die falling from a ladder. He didn’t die from electrocution. He didn’t die when a roof collapsed. No, he didn’t die from any of these things.
In fact, if his wife hadn’t been staying with a sick relative in another town he would still be alive today.
If she’d been there he would never have got away with smoking in bed!