The ENGINEER arrives with CHRIS'S hotel address. KIM runs through

the city of Bangkok to CHRIS'S hotel, as CHRIS and JOHN travel

throughout the city to find her.)



(A hotel room)



KIM

good evening, maam



ELLEN

don't turn the bed yet



KIM

I'm not the maid



ELLEN

what do you want then?



KIM

they must have written the room number wrong

I am looking for someone named Christopher Scott

three-seventeen, I am sorry... unless

well, you must be, of course, you're John's wife, are you not?



ELLEN

oh God, I see

it had to happen

you must be Kim

Chris went to find you

please come inside

no one will hurt you

I'm Chris's wife

my name is Ellen



(KIM doesn't move)



ELLEN

in a way, I am glad I am meeting you first

understand, you were only a name till tonight

I don't know how I'd feel if our roles were reversed

won't you please sit down



KIM

tell me you are lying



ELLEN

we've been married two years, I am sorry, it's true



KIM

he said he'd come to get me



ELLEN

he says he tried to reach you, but what could he do?



KIM

please tell me you're not married

you don't know, you can't know what I've done to be here



ELLEN

you don't know how he needed a new start



KIM

I feel walls in my heart

closing in

I can't breathe

I can't win



ELLEN

as for the child

you say it's Chris's



KIM

oh yes, Madame

my son is Chris's



ELLEN

of course we'll help



KIM

please keep your pity



ELLEN

it's not a gift

it is our duty



KIM

I had a dream for my son to belong

and not live all his life in the streets like a rat



ELLEN

we aren't rich, but we'll shoulder our load

Chris and I stand completely together on that



KIM

then you must take Tam with you



ELLEN

take a child from his mother, impossible Kim



KIM

you will take Tam with you

then he'll get what I wanted for him



ELLEN

but Kim, your child needs you

Chris is married to me, we want kids of our own



KIM

Tam's chance lies with you now, not with me



BOTH

no!

can't you see

it won't work

it can't be



KIM

if you're saying that because you've made him change his mind

Chris must go away and leave me and his son behind

if you're saying that because my husband has another wife

my child has no future, like the dust of life

he must come tonight to my place

tell me so to my face



(KIM exits