Tag: death

Blue Canaries

My fiancé arrives home from a twelve hour shift. He left in the pre-dawn darkness, and has arrived after winter’s dusk.

“Who died?” I ask when I greet him at the door, motioning to the black band across his badge. A thin blue line on the band serves as a marker for his profession.

“The deputy in Leon Country,” he says, leaving his boots by the door. “You didn’t hear?”

“No,” I say. “What happened?”

He tells me about the fire and the ambushed deputies, and I’m reminded of the nickname firefighters have given cops–blue canaries.