Hotel hallway, late at night. MRS. SING opens the door as MS. ODDI, with a travelling case in her hands, steps out of her hotel room, obviously in a great hurry. They run into each other.
MRS. SING: Ms. Oddi!
MS. ODDI: Oh! Mrs. Sing! You startled me.
(MS. ODDI turns, locks the door, then begins hurrying off.)
MRS. SING: Are you leaving?
MS. ODDI: Oh, oh, I’m very sorry. Have they found Daniel?
MRS. SING: No, they have not.
MS. ODDI: Well, I’m very very sorry. I am sure they will find him tomorrow. I’m sure he will turn up. My daughter is convinced of it—
MRS. SING: You are very excited. You must catch your breath.
MS. ODDI: Oh, I have no time to catch my breath! I am in a great hurry!
(She begins rustling in her purse.)
MRS. SING: Where were you going?
MS. ODDI: Away. Just away.
MRS. SING: You are running away?
MS. ODDI: No, don’t speculate!
MRS. SING: (interrupting) There is a great sadness in you. It is obvious to me, so perfectly obvious. You are like a wilting flower.
MS. ODDI: (flustered) Well, that’s just life’s way, isn’t it?
MRS. SING: It doesn’t have to be.
MS. ODDI: Of course it does!
MRS. SING: Life can be many ways. Come, think back on when you were little. How was life then?
MS. ODDI: No better than it is now, Mrs. Sing! No better! Please, move aside.
(She makes to go. MRS. SING stops her.)
MRS. SING: (desperate) Perhaps you have a secret you would like to share? That you could only share with another woman? There are so few of us here. We are both in families entirely of men.
MS. ODDI: That is not true! I have a daughter!
MRS. SING: But she is too young to count.
MS. ODDI: She certainly counts!
(MS. ODDI hurries away.)
MRS. SING: Ms. Oddi, you are making a great mistake! You could open up to me! We would tell each other all the little things in the world!
MS. ODDI: I owe you nothing! I owe you nothing!