When the Happy Medium shows the children Calvin's family, they witness a sad scene: Calvin's mother, unlike the lovely Mrs. Murry, is "unkempt," with long, stringy gray hair and no teeth. She screams at her children and hits one child with a wooden spoon. When Meg sees the disorder of Calvin's family life, she feels for him, and recognizes that rather than leaning into him for security and safety, as has been her way so far, she needs to offer him support. She takes his hand in sympathy,

trying to tell him by the pressure of her fingers what she felt. If anyone had told her only the day before that she, Meg, the snaggle-toothed, the myopic, the clumsy, would be taking a boy's hand to offer him comfort and strength, particularly a popular and important boy like Calvin, the idea would have been beyond her comprehension. But now it seemed as natural to want to help and protect Calvin as it did Charles Wallace.

Meg's vision of the world has begun broadening, and she is maturing. She is beginning to understand that other people, even if they seem popular and confident, have problems and sorrows of their own. She begins to recognize that she can offer strength and support to others outside of her own family.