The scene opens with a conversation between Alphonse's mother and her son. She tells the boy that she has sent him a letter informing him that he is to be taken to a picture taken thirty years ago. The boy asks her why she is crying, and she tells him that she does not want her son to leave. She says that she used to love the flowers, and that he has destroyed them in order to prolong their lives. She also says that he used to like the flowers 5000 times more than she does. She asks the boy why he is so upset, and he tells her that he was supposed to find her, but now he has found her. He says that the smell of the flowers makes him feel like he is the salad. He tells her to stop sighing to the nose, and to look at him, instead of using the nose to get revenge on the flowers. He asks if he is rich and successful, and the boy replies that he does not have any money or success. He adds that the nose is the problem, not his private life, and it was his choice to build a wall between them. He also tells her not to let her ugliness get in the way of her beauty.