This scene takes place in a simple courtyard where a mother is tending a small garden. Three children enter; they are running and laughing because one of them is waving a letter in the air. The mother joins the happy chase and finally succeeds in grabbing the letter. She reads the first page to her children, who are delighted to hear from their father; they then continue playing and leave the stage. She turns the letter over and reads her husband’s expressions of love and loneliness. The news turns bad and prospects for reunification begin to fade. The mother realizes that she and the children must survive alone.
