All By Myself

Penny returns from a church retreat glowing with excitement. During a time of solitary prayer, she felt an extraordinary sense of God’s nearness, peace, and joy. On the drive home she continued praying, took unfamiliar roads, and eventually lay beneath falling snow on a merry-go-round in McAlister Park, overwhelmed with gratitude. Connie calls it a mountaintop experience and gently warns that such powerful feelings do not happen every time a person prays.

Meanwhile, Wooton develops a contagious infection and must remain at home for several days. The medicine affects his memory and judgment, but he cheerfully plans to read, watch television, and call Penny with questions about woodpecker jokes, kettle corn, and other wandering ideas. Penny is preparing to drive to Trickle Lake for another private encounter with God and grows impatient with his interruptions.

Penny skips Bible study and turns down Connie’s invitation to join a group caroling for people who cannot leave their homes, including Wooton. At the lake, she tries music, silence, a walk, and another merry-go-round, hoping to reproduce exactly what she felt before. A maintenance worker warns her that he is shutting down the nearby cell-phone tower and that heavy snow is coming, but she remains on the mountain.

Wooton’s attempts to entertain himself become increasingly chaotic. He orders peculiar products, considers moving his refrigerator beside his bed, and stages a pretend hunt for a household spider. The creature turns out to be a praying mantis, which he names Walter and treats as a new friend. When Wooton calls for help after tipping the refrigerator onto his bed, Penny ends the conversation because she wants to concentrate on being alone with God.

Nothing at the lake feels as Penny expected. She even slips back into gossip during a telephone call, despite the work she has been doing to control her tongue. Then the snowfall becomes a blizzard. Her car will not start, and the disabled tower leaves her without a signal. Alone, cold, and suddenly wishing for her friends, Penny can do nothing but wait.

Wooton’s illness eventually sends him to the hospital, where Connie visits and brings what he needs. Walter has come along as well, but a nurse accidentally crushes the mantis while checking Wooton’s blood pressure. Though Wooton’s medicine makes his grief unusually dramatic, he still thinks about Penny. He asks Connie to share a verse from 1 Corinthians 13 about how people now understand only in part, believing it may help Penny when God seems difficult to understand.

The maintenance worker discovers Penny in the snow and brings her to the hospital with hypothermia and possible frostbite. Penny admits to Connie that her plans have failed and apologizes for her rudeness and renewed gossip. Connie assures her that spending time alone with God is valuable, but reminds her that God has also given believers one another. Friends encourage each other, carry burdens together, and provide loving accountability.

Penny visits Wooton and apologizes for failing to help when he needed her. Wooton simply welcomes her now that she has come and shares the verse he thought she needed. From their hospital rooms, the friends exchange handmade Christmas greetings, admire Wooton’s improvised nativity scene, and look forward to celebrating once they recover. Penny no longer wants to shut everyone out; being together is now exactly where she wants to be.