As Marion feared, the supply of heroin on the streets dwindles again; Harry and Tyrone are back to wandering the dangerous streets. Unable to get their fix and shooting heroin only to fight off withdrawals, she and Harry begin to argue. They used up their supply the previous night, and Marion is in a hysterical mood. She messes up while shooting up sleeping pills and injures her arm; she blames Harry. Tyrone calls with a lead, so Harry meets up with him. They had mutually fallen into the habit of withholding money from each other, so they use their extra cash to take a cab to where the action is. Marion, meanwhile, agonizes about waiting: She feels she has been waiting her whole life for life to begin. She recalls past therapy sessions with Arnold before she had begun sleeping with him.

The police seem to be everywhere on the streets. Harry and Tyrone press on through the freezing cold, not daring to talk to anyone for too long, in case they have drug paraphernalia on them, and they get arrested as accessories. Eventually, one of Tyrone’s contacts points him to a lead, Big Tim, who is holding some strong heroin, but he is not selling.