[legendsport]

November 11, 1918 - Egypt, GA:

Alice Barrell shook her head, took a deep breath and began to trudge away from the barn and back towards the house.

The past month had been nothing but a series of trials and she felt weary... worn to a nub.

First, her mother had died in early October, one of the thousands who had succumbed to the so-called "Spanish" flu. She wasn't so sure about the "Spanish" part - Rufus told her that he had heard through his connections in Washington that the flu was rampaging throughout Europe but war-time censorship had so far kept the lid on it.

Then they had received a telegram from the War Department: "We regret to inform you that Lt. James Barrell is missing in action." That one, coming on the heels of her mother's death, had nearly unhinged her completely. Rufus, a rock as always, had stood by her side while putting on a brave face though she knew he was as terrified as she was. Again, through contacts in Washington, he got more of the story: Jimmy had been shot down. The plane itself had been found after the Allied offensive pushed the Germans back. There was no sign of Jimmy, but the plane itself wasn't horribly mangled and the consensus was the crash had been survivable, so the Army apparently believed the Germans had captured Jimmy and sent him to Germany. But Rufus also had heard that the influenza was raging in both France and Germany, so she worried about that too.

Joe was in Ohio, playing football. She worried that the flu would reach him and his family - the twins were still so very young. It certainly had reached them here in rural Georgia.

Rollie had the flu. He had come downstairs one morning, declared that he was ill and had moved himself to the barn. "I'm not getting you all sick," he'd said. And despite her efforts to persuade him to remain in the house, he steadfastly refused. So he was living in the barn - which was why she was now trudging back to the house after having delivered some soup to him.

Jack was on the porch waiting for her as she walked up the steps. He had come home after Vera's funeral in Montreal - a funeral she and her father had not attended because of the risk of contracting the flu. Jack would soon be heading to Toronto to start training for the upcoming hockey season. Alice was surprised that the NAHC was going to hold its season after having a member of the Ottawa club fall to the influenza (forward Jacques Tremblay's wife had contracted the illness, he had stayed home from his offseason job with the Canadian government to care for her, had gotten sick himself and died on October 28th).

"We have some news, Mom," Jack said as she stopped and looked at him expectantly.

"Good lord, what now?" she asked in an exasperated tone.

"The war is over," Jack said. "Assuming Pop's right about Jimmy being a P.O.W., that means he'll be coming home."

Vera raised her eyes to the heavens. "Let's hope that's the case. We can certainly use some good news around here for a change."