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A Special Day

Writer's picture: Peter K F Cheung SBSPeter K F Cheung SBS
  1. FADE IN.


  2. Act 1


  3. INT. SLEEPING ROOM - DAY


  4. Waking up, PETER lies against the cushioned bed back.


  5. PETER (V.O.): Today's different from yesterday. I've slept well and don't have to go to work

  6. '

  7. Checking his phone casually.


  8. PETER (V.O.): There're somethings that make the anniversary of today, June 27, special.


  9. Reflecting.


  10. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Most of the time, we don't know the value of moments until they're long gone.


  11. Recalling.


  12. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Let me see if I can get connected with a friend to send him my birthday greetings.


  13. Peter surfs the web.


  14. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): He's a very private person. I don't even have his email and he doesn't use What'sApp. I haven't seen him since his retirement in 2015.


  15. Seeing an "undeliverable message", Peter sends another again.


  16. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I've the urge to do that. Friendship can be the hardest thing to explain.


  17. Act 2


  18. INT. SLEEPING ROOM - CONTINUOUS


  19. PETER (V.O.): June 27 became a special day to me when I first studied Land Law in a Housing Management course at HKU (1977-1980).


  20. Recalling.


  21. PETER (V.O.): All land leases north of Boundary Street and in the New Territories expire on June 27, 1997. They were designed in such a way that the Crown would have the remainder interest in the leases.


  22. Recalling.


  23. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Since I joined the Law Reform Commission in 1988, I began designing and building Hong Kong's intellectual property (IP) system. Relevant IP laws had to be enacted before July 1, 1997 or there would be a legal laguna.


  24. Recalling.


  25. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): On June 27, 1997, the Copyright Ordinance, the Registered Designs Ordinance and the Patents Ordinance became law that day. The mission was accomplished at the last possible gazette day before Hong Kong rejoined the motherland.


  26. Recalling.


  27. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In Autumn 1999, my wife talked to me that she'd like to have our third child, preferably a daughter, to be born in 2000 - the year of the Dragon.


  28. Recalling.


  29. PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): What we learned from life was that: wishing did make the wish happen. And our younger daughter was born on June 27 that year.


  30. Recalling.


  31. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): When my doctor friend heard about that, he paid a visit to my wife in the hospital. He casually remarked that he was born on June 27 too.


  32. Recalling.


  33. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): And that was 20 years ago. We're in our prime, inventing our promising future.


  34. Reflecting.


  35. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): But now, we're retired senior citizens.


  36. KAJI, the family pet, enters and jumps up to bed.


  37. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): She's 4-year old today. And she's been a very dear family member for 3 1/2 years. And I've been writing about her every Sunday if I wasn't out of town.


  38. Kaji attempts to lick the face of Peter's WIFE.


  39. WIFE: Our elder daughter has sent us a dog-human age conversion table. A 4-year old Shiba Inu is like 32 years old of ours.


  40. PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): She wanted to have a family pet then. But now she's studying in Japan and couldn't come back on holidays because of the pandemic.


  41. Peter checks the table.


  42. PETER (V.O.): When Kaji joined us at 6 months, her age was like our age 9, as she matured quickly. The 1st year of her life was our age 17.


  43. Pausing.


  44. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): When she's 16-year old, she will be equivalent to humans' 80 years of age. And older than me!


  45. EXT. PET GARDEN - DAY


  46. Kaji sees Peter's wife throwing balls on the ground.


  47. WIFE: Oh, you don't even want to chase your toys.


  48. Kaji jumps up to a bench and rests there.


  49. PETER: She behaves like a woman now. But affection is always greater than perfection.


  50. Act 3


  51. EXT. ROAD - DAY


  52. Waiting at the driver seat with Kaji, Peter is listening to the car radio.


  53. PETER (V.O.): Oh there's an on-going exhibition about water rationing in 1963. I was 9 and was in primary 3. I'd check it out and re-live the collective memories.


  54. INT. DINNING ROOM - NIGHT

  55. Peter, his wife, YOUNGER DAUGHTER and Kaji gather around a laptop. We see the images of ELDER DAUGHTER and SON appearing on the screen and hear them chatting.


  56. ELDER DAUGHTER (from screen): I haven't seen Kaji for 9 months now.


  57. SON (from screen): I'm now having a day break. And then lectures to attend and exams to sit.


  58. ELDER DAUGHTER (from screen): I'm now studying very hard as if I was taking my DSE...


  59. The party chats endlessly as a birthday cake and gifts are put on the table.


  60. PETER (V.O.) : It's great to see and hear them via the cloud, and we could have a birthday party like that.


  61. INT. SLEEPING ROOM - NIGHT


  62. PETER (V.O.): I remember anniversaries of days. They've frozen my moments in the past. But I don't have many days like June 27 though.


  63. Reflecting.


  64. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I'm not young anymore. Special moments can be right in front of me. I've to make every day special, starting from today.


  65. FADE OUT.


  66. THE END


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