Elsie (quietly, sombrely, gently, with great compassion) I know you love me, and I love you, but don’t you see love is impossible in this world?

Dudley Maybe it isn’t, Elsie.

Elsie Love is for birds. They have wings to fly away on when it’s time for flying. For tigers in the jungle because they don’t know their end. We know our end. Every night I watch over poor, dying men. I hear them breathing, crying, talking in their sleep. Crying for air and water and love, for mother and field and sunlight. We can never know love or greatness. We should know both.

Dudley (deeply moved by her words) Elsie, I love you.

Elsie You want to live. I want to live, too, but where? Where can we escape our poor world?

Dudley Elsie, we’ll find a place.

Elsie (smiling at him) All right. We’ll try again. We’ll go together to a room in a cheap hotel, and dream that the world is beautiful, and that living is full of love and greatness. But in the morning, can we forget debts, and duties, and the cost of ridiculous things?

Dudley (with blind faith) Sure, we can, Elsie.

Elsie All right, Dudley. Of course. Come on. The time for the new pathetic war has come. Let’s hurry before they dress you, stand you in line, hand you a gun, and have you kill and be killed.

She looks at him gently, and takes his hand. Dudley embraces her shyly, as if he might hurt her. They go, as if they were a couple of young animals. There is a moment of silence. One of the streetwalkers bursts out laughing.

Killer Nick, what the hell kind of a joint are you running?

Nick Well, it’s not out of the world. It’s on a street in a city, and people come and go. They bring whatever they’ve got with them and they say what they must say.

Sidekick It’s floozies like her that raise hell with our racket.

Nick (remembering) Oh, yeah. Finnegan telephoned.

Killer That mouse in elephant’s body?

Sidekick What the hell does he want?

Nick Spend your time at the movies for the next couple of days.

Killer They’re all lousy. (Mocking.) All about love.

Nick Lousy or not lousy, for a couple of days the flatfoots are going to be romancing you, so stay out of here, and lay low.

Killer I always was a pushover for a man in uniform, with a badge, a club and a gun.

Krupp comes into the place. The girls put down their drinks.

Nick OK, get going.

The girls begin to leave and meet Krupp.

Sidekick We was just going.

Killer We was formerly models at Magnin’s.

They go.

Krupp (at bar) The strike isn’t enough, so they’ve got to put us on the tails of the girls, too. I don’t know. I wish to God I was back in the Sunset holding the hands of the kids going home from school where I belong. I don’t like trouble. Give me a beer.