Flying Kites
- Peter K F Cheung SBS
- May 4, 2022
- 3 min read
FADE IN
Act 1
INT. SITTING ROOM - 09:00
Peter notes that his WIFE is about to leave.
PETER (V.O.): Today is the first work day of May.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Since I've got financial freedom, I've been cognitively free.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.): As an elderly now, practising lifelong learning is a way for me to stay intellectually young. I'll go to my study.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Yes, after today, my son will begin a new phase of his career.
Act 2
INT. STUDY - 14:15
Peter sees What'sApp notifications.
PETER (V.O.): Oh, my elder daughter has begun enjoying the long May public holidays in Japan.
Peter checks scenic images.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Beautiful, she's now in Lake Hamama...
Checking a video clip, Peter sees many people flying kites.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Oh, it's the Hamamatsu Festival held from May 3-5.
Peter surfs the web.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It is meant to celebrate the birth of a child - the kite is flown high in the sky for healthy growth of the child.
FLASHBACK
EXT. PETER'S FAMILY HOME, TIN SUM SAN TSUEN - DAY (1964)
At a path near his home, Peter a flying a fighter kite, patrolling the blue sky.
PETER (V.O.): I've probably the best glass-coated threads among my peers.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I found used light bulbs ground them into glass powders.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd):I made the liquid glue with oxhide gelatin and raw eggs.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Mixing the glass powders and the liquid glue would form the thread's coating materials.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Then, I put the materials in a tin container (that I made) with two perpendicular holes that are just good for the raw cotton threads to pass through.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Using a big ventilated thread roller that I made, I rolled the wetly-coated threads to let them dry naturally.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): For better quality, I'd fly a kite with the newly coated threads as practically as possible so that the threads won't get stuck with each other.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): As to the fighter kites, I carefully selected the ready-made ones.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I picked kites with symmetrical bamboo spars. Otherwise, they would, after launching, pull either towards the left or the right.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Although I've knowhow to mitigate the deficiency of kites flying without any direction, prevention is better than cure.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Furthermore, I fly my fighter kites like a combat pilot, cutting the lines of others.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): My kite-flying gears have to be the best of the best.
We see and hear Peter's GRANDMA (64) urging: Ah Fai, the sunshine is so bright, don't fly your kites all day. Come home now...
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The bright sunshine does cause pain to my eyes but I can't desist playing. Kite fighting is my life.
Monitoring his fighting kite in the sky, Peter moves farther away from home.
END FLASHBACK
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I can still hear my Grandma's voice in my mind.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I was then throwing my passion in the sky like a fighting kite and had no fear at all that my line might be cut by others.
Act 3
INT. SITTING ROOM - 22:00
Peter and his wife are watching a TV drama intermittently.
PETER (V.O.): Until my young adulthood, I didn't have life direction.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Kites with good threads rise high against the wind. Those goes with the wind have their threads cut, broken or let loose.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I've followed my dream like a thread following a flying kite. May my children follow their dreams and also rise high.
FADE OUT
THE END
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