Grazie
- Peter K F Cheung SBS
- Dec 15, 2020
- 2 min read
FADE IN.
Act 1
INT. STUDY - NIGHT
Checking a new phone notification, PETER smiles.
PETER (V.O.): An Italian, Matteo Rutuli, has kindly translated my answer the Tenant (l'inquilnino) into Italian. Grazie.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): How interesting it is that people from afar collaborate voluntarily to share a story.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): If atoms are letters, compounds are words, then the cell is the story.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): But the cell is so complicated that there're endless stories to tell.
Exits Peter.
Act 2
INT. STUDY - DAY
After sending a mail from his laptop, Peter is in thoughts.
PETER (V.O.): I've done my legal advice. I was so focused. Now I can relax.
Peter is having screentime.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): When was the last time I visited Italy?
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It was in 2015. My wife and I went to see the Milan Expo.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): My family visited the Aichi World Expo in 2005. We didn't see much, as it wasn't a Disney-like theme park.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In 2010, my family visited the Shanghai Expo. We waited for 4 hours just to see the China Pavilion. The wait and the heat were unforgettable.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): In 2015, only my wife and I went to see the Milan Expo. Upon arrival, my wife's purse was stolen. We did our city tour, visiting Police stations.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): After visiting the Milan Expo to our hearts' content, we went to Verona for a romantic tour, before having our Roman holidays again.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): Yes, in summer 2014, my younger son and I had a European tour and the last city we stayed was Rome.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): When I first made my European trip in 1984, the first European country I visited was Italy.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): Well, I haven't visited Italy for a long time.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): And I've lost contacts with my Italian friends.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): When I was reading a summer program at the Hague Academy of International Law in 1987, I had an argument with a guest lecturer who was a Swiss diplomat.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): The only person who supported me was an Italian lawyer-student.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): He could tell right from wrong, good from bad. I hope all's well with him.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): My wife and I talked about visiting the World Expo 2020 in Dubai.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): I haven't heard about it...
Peter surfs the web with his phone.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Oh, the Dubai Expo has been postponed to run from Oct 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): That should be a realistic time frame.
Act 3
INT. STUDY - CONTINUOUS
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): My wife and I visited Dubai in Autumn 2003, soon after the end of SARS in Hong Kong.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): It was an eye-opening experience in the dessert.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): I was initially shocked to see carpets laid in the open. And then I reckoned Dubai was always dry.
Peter checks his phone screen again.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): Wow, 501.9K views now...In addition to the Tenant (L'inquilnino), I've so many stories to tell.
Peter checks the Italian version of his story again.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): I've tried to learned Italian, but it's just too difficult for me. I can only read my name Peter Cheung.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The Italian translation with authorship attribution is proper. Grazie! Another happy moments towards the year end.
FADE OUT.
THE END
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