Field of Poppies

June 1909

            With school on summer holiday, Polly was at her wit's end with the children. While they mostly played outside, they'd always be in and out of the house banging around, tracking mud on the floor, coming in with scraped knees, or crying about something being unfair. Meanwhile, Finn was starting to walk and was also wreaking havoc, pulling on everything not tied down and making quick getaways.

So, it was decided they would spend some of the holiday on the road with the Strong family. Of course, Tommy and Arthur weren't exactly pleased. Seeing as the betting shop was just getting up and started, they couldn't afford to lose out on money. Polly insisted and said Danny and the other men could handle a few weeks.

Going on seven months pregnant, Amelia was a bit apprehensive about traveling out to the Welsh countryside. However, Tommy assured her that if she were to go into an early labor, she was in capable hands, probably better than any doctor in Birmingham. It was enough to sway her. They all needed a break from the city's smoke and mud. Some fresh air was bound to do them good.

And oh how sweet the air smelled once they were finally away from the city limits. Amelia had been to the countryside before but had never joined Tommy's family to see their kin out on the road. Her parents would never allow her to be near other Travelers, especially ones who tended to be more nomadic in nature than the Shelbys were.

But Tommy had told her enough stories as a child to make her interested. He tried to scare her with the stories they would tell around the fires. Try to explain the excitement of spring and summer fairs. It seemed like another world when he described it all. To be out in the Welsh wilderness, sleeping under the stars, riding horses all day, spinning yarns about fairies, it seemed to be a child's dream.

Now, Amelia was much more aware of the struggles Tommy's extended family faced. The prejudice and poverty. None of those issues mattered as a child. They had blinders on so they wouldn't see the ugly side of life. All they saw was the fantastical magic the world still held onto. She yearned to have that innocence back but there was no going back.

~~~~~~~~~~~

On the second day of traveling to the Black Mountains where the Strongs were camped, Tommy was steering the vardo with Amelia sitting beside him. He held the position naturally, letting the reins be an extension of his arms as he guided the two horses along. Arthur was on another horse, riding along while Polly and the other three children stayed in the back of the wagon.

"Good to be outside, aye?" Tommy struck up a conversation as a lull in the muggy afternoon settled on them.

"Oh yes." Amelia nodded. "Good to see the clear sky instead of smoke." She joked. "I forgot how blue the sky could get sometimes." 

"Get used to it. 'Cause when we've got everything going with the shop, m'gonna buy a house out in the countryside."

She smiled. "Is that right?" It wasn't the first time Tommy made bold claims. Once money started rolling in from the betting shop, he started promising things that sounded outlandish even to Arthur. He promised a brand new luxury car to John, a new five-story house for Polly, as many horses as Ada could want, and now a house in the country.

"Like a cottage. Mum, dad, and I used to rent one for the holidays out in Wiltshire." She recalled. "Cute little place."

"No." He shook his head, the cigarette in his mouth practically just a bit of ash. "One of those fucking big ones. Like royals have. Dukes 'n whatever they are."