ACT III

Six months later, Andy is living in a sumptuous mansion on Riverside Drive, and Benson, the family butler from Mississippi, has come to New York to look after him. The Skin is tacked to the wall in his dressing room with its perimeter outlined on a napkin so Andy can monitor its size. Prof Shih pays him a visit. Andy is delighted to see him. Then, when Prof Shih asks for a favor. Andy grants it automatically, and the Skin contracts before his eyes. “Get out!” he yells at Prof Shih. “Get out!” In the evening, he goes to the opera, where he sees the Dealer in the foyer. The Dealer is accompanied by a courtesan from the IPO dinner, and has dyed his hair and rouged his cheeks in an effort to look young. He looks grotesque to Andy, but he is happily in love. “I have you to thank,” he tells Andy, “You have made me a happy man.” In the hall, Rose’s box is directly across from Andy’s. She arrives with a male escort and basks in the Crowd's attention. Her Vanity Meter soars. When a Mystery Woman arrives in the box next to Andy’s, however, the Crowd’s attention is drawn to her, and Rose’s Vanity Meter stalls. When the opera begins. Andy watches through a special monocle that distorts the stage, to avoid anything that might arouse his desire. But he cannot ignore the Mystery Woman. The lace of her dress touches his wrist. A feather in her hat grazes his cheek. The scent of her perfume invades his nostrils. He finally turns and sees her: the Mystery Woman is Pauline! She grown up and self-composed and looks beautiful in an evening gown. She tells him to meet her at the boardinghouse the next day, and rushes away. The next morning, Andy stands before the Skin and asks for Pauline to love him. The Skin does not shrink. It finally dawns on him: Pauline already loves him and always did. When he arrives at the boardinghouse, he learns that Claudia has won the lottery and moved away. The building is empty, but Pauline is there, playing his melody on a new piano in his old room. They profess their love for one another and make love for the first time. Pauline meets Benson, and moves into Andy’s mansion. They are blissfully happy and get engaged, and Pauline designs their wedding invitation. But the Skin inexorably contracts, and Andy becomes ill with passion. His love for Pauline is literally killing him. He tries to return the Skin to the Dealer, but the Dealer sends it back. “I am unable to accept it,” the note says. “It has to stay in the family.” Desperate to save his own life, Andy tells Pauline to leave him. He consults scientists at the Academy to try to enlarge the Skin, but they are unable to help him. He is X-rayed at the hospital and has his blood drawn, but the doctors find no evidence of disease and believe his symptoms are psychosomatic. The X-rays do, however, reveal the sensor that Rose injected into his neck, and Andy realizes the full extent of her betrayal. On doctors’ orders, he travels to Lake Louise in the Canadian Rockies to reduce the stress in his life, with Benson as his driver and companion. Exactly one year later, the Trojan Horse that he inserted in the Roxy code is activated. Fiesta crashes, taking the stock market down with it. Brett and Larry track him down, and Brett threatens Andy. Andy pretends to write new code that appears to restore Fiesta, but instead plants a new Trojan Horse to turn Fiesta back into Roxy at the next scheduled concert. Before leaving Canada, Andy attaches sensors to the shirt collars of Brett and Larry, so their incriminating conversation during the concert is broadcast to the world. Pauline, who is still in New York, writes to tell Andy that she is pregnant. Brett and Larry are promptly arrested. But the Skin is no larger than an oak leaf. Andy has used up his quota of life. When he reaches New York, he falls into Pauline's arms and tells her, "My only wish is for you to be happy."