Room 317

(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, oh I'm 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
please won't you sit down

KIM
tell me you are lying

ELLEN
we've been married a year, 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
I had a dream for my son to belong
and not live his life in the streets like a rat

ELLEN
we aren't rich, but we'll shoulder our load
Chris and I are totally 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)

ELLEN
I don't want this
I didn't come here
to meet a girl
who loves my husband
I came here to help, but what do I do?
now, after this, what do I . . .