"I think this is it, number 48, right," said Felix.
"Yeah, wait a second, would you?" came the reply. Felix turned to look at Tommy and understood—for him, the journey was over, but in a way he was afraid for it to end. But end it did, because just then a rather stout woman opened the front door of the house to shake off a scatter rug. The rug flew from her hands as she saw her son, her baby standing on the sidewalk.
Mrs. Barrett ran down the front steps of the house and flew towards her son, screaming his name. It was only when she got right in front of him and noticed that he was staring beyond her that she realized he was blind. The smile dimmed from her face, but she reached out and clutched him to her breast. Mrs. Barrett’s screams caught the attention to the rest of the family, and they came streaming out the door to welcome Tommy home.
As the family crowded around Tommy, Felix stood to the side, allowing them their moment. Tommy’s voice climbed above the others, and when he got their attention he introduced Felix.
"Sergeant King, it’s a privilege to meet one of my son’s comrades in arms. Welcome to our home, you boys must be starving. Come inside," Mr. Barrett said as he picked up Felix’s bag.
As the group entered the home, Felix replied, "Please, call me Felix. Calling me sergeant just reminds me of the army."
It was fortunate that Mrs. Barrett was in the process of preparing lunch, as the smell of home cooking made Felix hungry for a change. After taking Tommy to his room and showing Felix where he could wash up, the group sat down for the mid day meal. Each member of the family stared at Tommy as they made idle chitchat, still not fully believing that he could not see. Felix could feel the tension and it quashed his appetite, which was not a difficult thing to do these days. The slightest thing took Felix’s mind off of food. Finally, Mr. Barrett cut to the chase, and asked the boys the question on the minds of each member of the family—what had happened to them in France.
"Dad," said Tommy, "there’s not much to tell. The bombs were falling and some metal caught me in the face. What’s done is done," he added fatalistically.
Felix added, "I’m just glad we got home at all. I’ll tell you, when I was laying on that field my leg was killing me and I never thought I’d find my way off of it." The thought crossed his mind that he didn’t mention Elbert in that description, but he considered it best not to bring the Barretts’ attention to all the soldiers who died at the River Marne.
The family was silent, and then Mrs. Barrett changed the subject with an invitation to Felix to spend the night with them before starting for home. Felix protested briefly but Mr. Barrett told him that he would drive him to the ferry the next morning, and that was that. Nathaniel, the younger of the two Barrett sons, chimed in that Felix could sleep in his bed, and he would stay on the couch. Felix thanked him and added that it would be a relief to sleep on a real bed for a change.
"Well, I’ll draw a nice hot bath for you boys, and Felix, I’ll wash your uniform before we send you out, so you’ll be nice and clean when you see your family again," Mrs. Barrett offered. Felix readily agreed and thanked Tommy’s parents for their hospitality. Mrs. Barrett replied, "Not a bit of it, I can’t thank you enough for being a friend to my Tommy and seeing him safely home." The word "seeing" caught everybody’s attention and reminded them of what Tommy was going through, and the meal was completed in silence.
Later that evening, after a dinner which Felix again failed to enjoy due to nerves, a bath and a clean nightshirt, Felix sat on Nathaniel’s bed, looking at Tommy. Tommy had held up pretty well through the day, putting on a brave front for his family, but the façade fell away as he lay on his bed. "I can’t believe it’s over, I can’t believe I’m home at last," Tommy said as tears poured down his cheeks.
"What do you think you’ll do now?" queried Felix.
"I don’t know," countered Tommy, "What can a blind man do?"
"My brother in law, Gus, is pretty much blind and he works as a Naval telegrapher. Maybe you could do something like that."
"Maybe, I don’t know."
"Well, give it some thought, you can’t just sit around all day."
Tommy changed the subject: "Yeah, and what are you going to do, how can you farm with that bad leg?"
It was a question Felix had forced from his mind a million times. With a sardonic grin, Felix conceded the point, "Fair enough, I don’t know what the future is going to bring me either. How ‘bout we both forget things for awhile."
Felix reached into his bag and brought out a flask of whiskey, took a quick swig and put it in Tommy’s hand, who followed suit with a grin. Whiskey was foreign to Felix’ childhood, but on the fields of France he definitely developed a taste for how the bitter liquid could make the fear go away for a little while. Fortified, the two men went to sleep: for Felix it was luckily a sleep unmarred by the nightmare of that day at the River Marne.
Upon waking to the bustle of the Barrett home, Felix limped over to the mirror and looked at his face. Unfortunately, the same reflection that greeted him yesterday during the first time he shaved using a proper light and mirror was still there. He studied the scar on his forehead, and smaller one on his cheek. He also again noticed the black circles around his eyes and hollows in his cheeks.
He laughed to himself that his family wouldn’t recognize him, he had to have lost at least 25 pounds since he left to fight, and his appetite pretty much disappeared with those pounds. It wasn’t just the fear and the pain from his injuries, nor the death of Elbert in his arms—Felix was very saddened that he had not received one letter from his family, Izzy or anyone else in Avonlea for that matter. Surely the letters should have caught up to him in the hospital; he had been there long enough. It sickened Felix to think that Izzy had forgotten about him.
What Felix did not know, however, was that a horrifying mistake had been made. He was listed as killed in action, and at that very moment his mother was looking out her kitchen window, towards the rising sun, and crying again for the baby she believed she would never see again. Also at that moment, miles away from Avonlea, Izzy Pettibone dragged herself from her bed after another sleepless night.
After breakfast, yet another meal Felix barely touched, Mrs. Barrett and Nathaniel said their goodbyes to Felix and wished him a Merry Christmas, and Mr. Barrett and Tommy took him to the ferry. "Here, Felix, just a little extra to help you get to Avonlea," said Mr. Barrett as he pressed a roll of money in Felix’s hand.
"But Mr. Barrett, I can’t take this."
"None of that, it’s my Christmas gift to you, and a woefully small one at that considering all the help you gave my son. When you get the chance, you can thank me by passing the good deed on to someone else."
"Thank you sir, and Merry Christmas to you," said Felix, and then he turned to Tommy and the two men shook hands at first, then realizing that wasn’t enough, they hugged. They promised to keep in touch, and then Felix turned to board the ferry, and he was on his way.
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