Field of Poppies

August 1918

            By August of that year, Barney was locked away in the asylum. It happened so suddenly. Although he certainly hadn't been himself since his last gunshot wound in the trenches, everyone had hoped that he would reacclimate as time went on. But his behavior only got worse. He was prone to violent outbursts that he didn't even remember seconds after.

Tommy and the rest of the 179th did their best to try and keep him calm and out of trouble. But there was only so much they could do. A few episodes at the Garrison was one thing. Harry could accept that the man was clearly out of his mind and not doing it on purpose. But the rest of the public world couldn't understand.

Barney was arrested a few times. But his was committed after he bit a cop and tried to escape jail. He was deemed insane soon after.

Amelia knew Tommy took it very hard. They all did. These men who were parts of their lives were suddenly changed beyond a point of return. And there was nothing they could do about it. They couldn't visit Barney and they couldn't get Danny's fits under control either.

Rosie was at her wit's end and relied heavily on support from Amelia. Consequently, this allowed Tommy to slip back into his habits of working all hours of the day.

Amelia noticed this a few months in, but she wasn't sure what to say. Before the war, she had no problem laying into him about working himself to death. But after? Well, she didn't know what to even say. She felt guilty about being strict about anything. In her mind, he had been through enough. Why should she scold him on something that was small compared to the grand scheme of things?

But she wasn't blind either. Amelia was aware that he never slept more than a few hours at a time. She couldn't find the warmth in his eyes anymore. He was less outspoken than before and had a habit of sitting in stony silence instead of speaking out. He was energetic with the kids, at least as much as he could be on the amount of sleep he was getting.

Amelia was grateful for that. Although it hurt to know Tommy had changed so much, at least the kids wouldn't realize.

~~~~~~~~~~

Amelia went into the betting shop one sweltering afternoon to bring Tommy lunch. He hadn't eaten that morning and had been absent during dinner the night before. But there was no sign of him. She went into Arthur's office to see where he was.

"He came in early this morning, was here before everyone else." Her brother-in-law answered. "He left 'bout an hour ago saying he would be back later."

"He didn't say where he would be?" Amelia asked, her concern growing.

Arthur shook his head. "I asked but he never answered."

She chewed on her lip. "Okay...well." She considered waiting but figured her nerves would get the better of her. "Here, you can have this." She gave Arthur the lunch before leaving the shop.

~~~~~~~~~'

Small Heath wasn't particularly large, but that didn't mean he was even there. He could've gone beyond the neighborhood. She started with Charlie's Yard. That's where Annie and Max were for the day. They were cranky inside because of the heat so she sent them to both Charlie for the morning.

"Haven't seen him," Charlie said, sitting on a stool in the shade while he watched the kids. Curly was showing them a grasshopper he'd found in one of the horse stalls. The kids were so taken by the discovery that they didn't even notice their mother arriving.