(the ENGINEER enters, looking for KIM)



ENGINEER

coo-coo princess, look who's here

your resurrected Engineer

don't ask me how I tracked you down

who has the sharpest nose in town?

I'm here to throw a rope before you drown



for men, will always be men

you change the regime

the lust doesn't stop

you and I will team up again

together we'll reap

the cream of the crop



KIM

Engineer, I don't want you here

I gave up that life

you must understand



ENGINEER

out that door is a big shot who waits

like a pup to come up

and eat out of your hand

Kim, the good times are back



KIM

don't go on

it's too late



ENGINEER

not too late for my star!



KIM

please let me hide in peace



ENGINEER

better to screw the police

enter, monsieur commissar



(THUY enters)



THUY

three years I've been away

I kept faith we would meet



ENGINEER

me, I found her for you



THUY

you, out in the street



(the ENGINEER and the others leave)



THUY

I knew in time faith would weave a design

tying your life and mine into one

each day I'd wait

like a soldier must wait

trusting victory to come with the sun

after the fight in the still of the night

I would picture my bride, bright as jade

you'll be my wife

we will build a new life

and fulfill the vow our fathers made



KIM

my father's vow I can't honor today

and I pray in my heart he'll forgive

what you want now are some words I can't say

if I lied to you how can I live?



THUY

don't say anymore!

not a word!

you can change

you can learn

look at me

don't decide too soon



KIM

somewhere deep in my soul

shines the smallest of lights

and no wind blows it out

it burns steady and strong

through the darkest of nights



dju vui vay

yu doi my

dju vui vay

vao nyay moy



I made a promise once with these words

which neither time nor distance has changed

he will come to me, still



THUY

you must be mad, your american jack

has gone for good and he'll never come back

they ran away with the skin they could save

the ones who stayed here are dead in a grave



(the ENGINEER re-enters)



ENGINEER

come on now, princess, get off your cloud

I'm sorry, sir, she was talking so loud

the commissar is a powerful man

a girl with brains makes a life where she can

princess remember your place

don't make people lose face



THUY

why do you look away?

I can end all this shame

all you need say is, "yes"



(from outside, soldiers are heard marching by)



you hear those soldiers out there

they'll do whatever I say



KIM

I cannot change how I feel!



THUY

come inside!

I think you can change before my eyes



this me-my has just been found

she hid the day we closed the bars

show her that we don't forget

no one is cured here without scars



SOLDIER #1

you are a woman who lived without shame



SOLDIER #2

you're an infection left over from war



SOLDIER #3

you have dishonored the national name



SOLDIER #4

re-education will cure the disease



SOLDIER #5

you must be shown what we do to a leach



SOLDIER #6

see how we teach an American's whore



ENGINEER

I have heard hundreds of speeches like these

take it from me you don't want to hear more



THUY

it's time to act

my friends it's time



SOLDIERS

her face betrays her crime

she must pay, and her partner too



THUY

get out!!

everybody out!!



ENGINEER

are you waiting for them to kill me?

did you not get what he said?

there's a big screw loose inside you

I will rip it out of your head



that's a mad dog on the rampage

if you think he'll change, save your breath

just say "yes", I don't care if you love him

Princess, life has it all over death!





KIM

I have a husband I love

real as the sun in the sky

I cannot live with a lie



THUY

do you see now who has the power?

do you still think crazy things?



KIM

Chris will come to me like the Phoenix

and he'll take me off on his wings



THUY

you're a traitor to your country



KIM

if I am, then let it be



KIM, THUY and the ENGINEER

I am talking of life or death now

I am talking of staying free



ENGINEER

so there it is now, I'll be moving on

if you don't need me, I'd rather be gone

two kids in love don't need strangers around



THUY

you just get out!



ENGINEER

right! I won't make a sound



(grabs his sack and exits)



THUY

and as for you, come with me



KIM

no!



there is a secret

that you don't know

there is a force here

I never show

you say it's treason

to keep my vow

season after season

I survived somehow

if you want the reason

I will show you now



Tam!



(TAM comes out from behind the curtain and runs to KIM)



look, Thuy, this is my son

he has kept me alive

now you see why

I must tell you "no"