Later, alone and frightened in the ICU waiting room of the hospital there, Meredith is befriended by a kind volunteer who accompanies her to the facility’s chapel where she waits with her through the night.

During her vigil, Meredith remembers a Christmas in her childhood when she was sent to stay with her childless Aunt Martha in Knoxville when her mother was seriously injured in an automobile accident.

Although she worked for a large department store, Meredith’s aunt lived in a remote area outside the city and asked bland Mrs. Boggs to stay with her niece during the day.