FADE IN:
EXT. CAR - DAY
PETER at driver seat. Radio news. Anchors talk to each other. We hear: if US treats China and Hong Kong as one tariff system, Hong Kong's property market will bust.
PETER (V.O.)
How interesting! US openly
unites Mainland China and
Hong Kong - one country.
one system, which is normal
anyway.
INT. STUDY - DAY
Peter works on his computer. Phone rings.
CALLER (O.S.)
You wish to appeal on
behalf of the claimant?
PETER
(To the phone)
Yes, I wish to put things
right. I want to submit the
statement of grounds as
soon as possible.
CALLER (O.S.)
I've checked that the
interpreter and the cllient
would be available tomorrow
at 9:30am.
PETER
Tomorrow at 9:30 then.
Peter resumes his work again. We see him typing: "Grounds of Appeal"...
PETER (V.0.)
My client wants to become
a Hongkonger. I want to
uphold Hong Kong's high
standards of fairness.
INT- CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
Peter chats with a GENTLEMAN#1 in a dark suit.
GENTLEMAN#1
Your younger son's studying in
Hongkong?
PETER
He wants to, but the Universities
in Hong Kong didn't admit him.
Gentleman#1 nods.
PETER (Cont'd)
He's trying hard to come back.
INT. TOWER LOBBY - DAY
Peter walks and chats with GENTLEMAN#2 in a dark suit.
PETER
... You were privileged to have
the opportunity to witness how
the top echelon determined the
fate of Hong Kong...
Gentleman#2 nods smilingly as he remembers.
GENTLEMAN#2
That's was around 1984-1985
in Beijing...
He remembers more.
GENTLEMAN#2 (Cont'd)
Deng said: "One-country-two-
systems is already great. We
can't go overboard."
Peter digests the message.
GENTLEMAN#2
Deng thought that China had
been weak...
PETER
(Nodding)
Yes, he knew he had a historic
role to play...
GENTLEMAN#2
(Frustrated)
But Hongkongers aren't
patriotic at all...what's foreign
must be good...many bad-
mouth Hong Kong...
Peter nods.
GENTLEMAN#2
I've every confidence in China.
I haven't applied for a foreign
passport although I could get
one easily!
PETER
I don't have a foreign passport
either...
(Pause) (V.O.)
I study international law and
knew China has been honouring
its words... And I knew I couldn't
have the privilege to decide WTO
cases impacting on the European
Communities if I held a British
passport.
Sharing something in common, they parted happily.
INT. TRAIN CAR - NIGHT
Packed with people.
PETER (V.O.)
I've lived outside Hong Kong
before and knew how life was
like. My elder son who lived
in UK for five years told about
his recent unpleasant experience
in Silicon Valley. My younger
son, studying in Sydney won't
wait for another day if he could
fly home right away.
Watching the passengers around him.
PETER (Cont'd) (V.O.)
A Hongkonger, whether under
one-country-two-systems, or
one-country-one-system, can't
be bad.
Arriving at a station, some passengers squeeze their way out as others want to get in.
INT. STUDY - NIGHT
Peter looks tired. He turn on the TV, relaxes on a sofa, dozes off.
A beat.
He wakes up, resume watching TV for awhile and then begins to work on his computer.
PETER (V.O.)
We have perseverance
among others...
Pausing.
PETER (Cont'd) (V.O.)
This short screenplay tells stories of our times told by
persons who were there
and are still here!
He inserts a sunflower as the feature photo of the screenplay.
FADE OUT. The End