Another Amazing Gift
- Peter K F Cheung SBS
- Jan 17, 2022
- 2 min read
FADE IN.
Act 1
INT. BEDROOM - 08:30
Urged by KAJI, the family pet, PETER gets out of bed.
PETER (V.O.): Today's Monday. I'll go back to HKU library to return a book.
INT. STUDY - 09:00
Peter grabs a thick book on Philosophy.
PETER (V.O.): Let me re-read Plato.
We see on text: Plato (427-347 B.C.)
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): He lived for 80 years.
We see on text: Returning from Sicily in 387 B.C., he established his academy.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): He was 50 years old then.
Act 2
FLASHBACK
EXT. ESTATE STREET - NIGHT (Yesterday)
Walking towards a car park, Peter chats with his SON.
PETER: I only began my legal career at the age of 31, after completing my PCLL at HKU in 1985.
Pausing.
PETER (Cont'd): When compared with my peers, I was seven years late.
Pausing.
PETER (Cont'd): I spent the prime of my life mostly on monitoring car repairs.
Later, Peter watches his son driving out from the car park.
PETER (V.O.): He has begun another good phase of his life.
RETURN TO PRESENT
EXT. HKU CAMPUS - 13:00
Peter is strolling around the Old Building.
PETER (V.O.): In 1977 when I was at age 23, I attended my first law lecture in a G/F lecture room here.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I was doing a Housing Management course. Mr Wilfred Lee, a Crown Counsel then, first taught me.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): When I met Wilfred again decades later, I thanked him for his inspiration.
Peter walks past the roadside car parks near West Gate.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd):I used to park my Ford Capri here from 1977-1980.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): One afternoon in 1982, a female law classmate suddenly felt like walking arm-in-arm with me along the road here.
Smiling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Sweet memory for me as a mature-and-married student.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): But we've lost contact after graduation. How is she now?
EXT. SUPERMARKET - 13:45
Seeing the disorganised display of tin food on a stack, Peter is surprised.
PETER (V.O.): Days ago, I bought three tins of abalone with different flavours. My wife and I screened out the least tasteful one.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): And now, only those least tasteful ones remain. So humans do have something in common.
INT. STUDY - 15:00
We see Peter reading texts on Mayflies:...the last day of their life is spent on the wing...mating and reproducing.
PETER (V.O.): They don't even have time to eat and so they never develop mouths...
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): What can we learn from them about living our lives?
Act 3
INT. BEDROOM - 23:00
Kaji is already in bed. We hear oldies: ...And I can break away to the better life where the shackles never hold me down...
PETER (V.O.): Life is a gift.
We continue to hear the singing: I'm gonna make a way for each happy day as my life turns around.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Plato devoted this life to one goal - helping people reach a state of fulfillment.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): How to live life is our choice. We've the chance to live it to the fullest.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): When I wake up on Tuesday, I'd recognise another amazing gift.
THE END.
FADE OUT
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