Augusta has saved up the money to buy her son Eddie an expensive wristwatch, but she's still apprehensive about her choice. She wants this gift to be indestructible and reliable. Parcel in hand, she goes to the station to catch a train and mail the watch to Eddie from Glenwood. She hopes that he will wear it when he comes home. As she approaches the platform, she is helped by a friendly trainman, who also helps a sick girl called Hildy and her companion. The trainman's compassionate air puts Hildy's fears to rest, and he also compliments Augusta on her choice of wristwatch. The praise dispels her indecisiveness, and she is decidedly more confident now. As they board the train, Augusta and Hildy strike up a conversation; even though they are strangers, Augusta wants to comfort the girl. She mentions her own son, her Eddie, who is only a little older than Hildy and is fighting in the war. At the platform, Hildy had expressed a wish to travel the world and see creatures such as giraffes and lions, which reminded Augusta of a time when Eddie was fifteen and working in an area in which the circus lions had escaped. She confesses that she turned back the time on her clock to make up for the hours during which Eddie did not come home that day. Hildy says suddenly that he probably got eaten by lions, but Augusta denies this vehemently. She is certain that Eddie is not dead, that he is in Italy where there are no lions, and that he writes letters to her not knowing that they never arrive. But she admits that he has not been home in five months. Eddie is clearly dead, but Augusta holds onto a mother's hope that her child has survived despite all odds, saying that nothing is certain until one hears from the War Department.