Kumbaya Moment

1. FADE IN.

2. 
   

3. Act 1

4. 
   

5. INT. STUDY - DAY

6. 
   

7. PETER is reading his phone.

8. 
   

9. PETER (V.O.): A Quoran asks me if I would support a 2-week global quarantine so as to eradicate COVID-19.

10. 
    

11. Thinking.

12. 
    

13. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The premise is dreamlike. To eradicate the COVID-19 in two weeks?

14. 
    

15. Pausing.

16. 
    

17. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The only disease on earth that the humankind has eradicated is smallpox - after its existence for thousands of years.

18. 
    

19. Pausing.

20. 
    

21. PETER (V.O.): That "2-weeks" have to be measured by the fictional warp speed to make it happen, if at all. We are talking about a species of nature to change universal principles.

22. 
    

23. Pausing.

24. 
    

25. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Has the humankind become so arrogant that they can always win and will never lose?

26. 
    

27. Pausing.

28. 
    

29. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): New Zealand is a good case study. It thought it had already eliminated COVID-19 months ago.

31. Pausing.

32. 
    

33. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): When it celebrated its 100 straight days with zero COVID-19 case, the coronavirus had already come by, and new cases began surfacing two days later.

34. 
    

35. Peter is in thoughts.

36. 
    

37. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It's too optimistic to hope for the kumbaya moment.

38. 
    

39. Act 2

40. 
    

41. FLASHBACK

42. 
    

43. INT. SHUN TAK COLLEGE, NT - CONTINUOUS (1969)

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45. In a church environment, Peter (15) and OTHERS are singing. We hear: Kumbaya, my lord, kumbaya; Kumbaya my lord, kumbya...

46. 
    

47. PETER (V.O.): It's a gospel song. I don't like the reference to "my lord", as I don't need any master.

48. 
    

49. Pausing.

50. 
    

51. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): What's does "kumbaya" mean? It doesn't sound like English.

52. 
    

53. Pausing.

54. 
    

55. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The lyrics of the song are so repetitive as if it wants to hypnotise people. But the music is melodic and easy to sing.

56. 
    

57. END FLASHBACK

58. 
    

59. Recalling.

60. 
    

61. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Peter, Paul and Mary and many others have recorded the song.

62. 
    

63. Peter surfs the web.

64. 
    

65. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The song is related to enslaved West Africans in South Carolina and Georgia.

66. 
    

67. Recalling.

68. 
    

69. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I visited a wealthy South Carolina family in 2007. The US State Department arranged the visit for me.

70. 
    

71. Recalling.

72. 
    

73. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I was shocked to learn that my host had fond memories when they could exploit African slaves.

74. 
    

75. Reading.

77. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Kumbaya is pidgin English meaning "Come by here". It's a prayerful plea to God.

78. 
    

79. Recalling.

80. 
    

81. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I first learned about the term "pidgin English" from a Cameron classmate while I was studying in London in the 1980s.

82. 
    

83. Pausing.

84. 
    

85. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Pidgin English is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups that don't have a common language.

86. 
    

87. Peter is distracted by another phone notification.

88. 
    

89. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Another Quoran asks me if the pandemic has separated society.

90. 
    

91. Pausing.

92. 
    

93. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): A society is a group of people living in the same region, sharing biological and cultural similarities and behaving the same.

94. 
    

95. Pausing.

96. 
    

97. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): But inequality of effective opportunities on civil, political, economic and social fronts separate any society.

98. 
    

99. Thinking.

100. 
     

101. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The pandemic has just made the implicit explicit ie the separation becomes more visible.

102. 
     

103. Thinking.

104. 
     

105. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): This is just like COVID-19 statistics, making the pandemic of concern to all.

106. 
     

107. Act 3

108. 
     

109. INT. STUDY - CONTINUOUS

110. 
     

111. DAYDREAM SEQUENCE

112. 
     

113. A. While swaying-locked-arm-in-arm in a barn-dance party, a teenage Peter sings Kumbaya with FRIENDS.

114. 
     

115. B. Peter leads the singing of another song: "Those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end, we sing and dance forever and a day. We live the life we choose. We fight and never lose. Those were the days, oh yes, those were the days.

116. 
     

117. RETURN TO PRESENT

118. 
     

119. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Once the coronavirus rather than God has come here, the world will never be the same again.

120. 
     

121. Thinking of something, Peter surfs the web again.

122. 
     

123. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Here's another source, suggesting the meaning of Kumbaya as: "Rise up, Father Yah", or "Stand Up, Father Yah" - it was a cry for help of the slaves to Yah to free them.

125. Pausing.

126. 
     

127. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Which is which? I need to have my own kumbaya moment.

128. 
     

129. EXT. ROADS, NT - DAY

130. 
     

131. Wearing a face mark, Peter is speeding a coupe with windows and sunroof opened.

132. 
     

133. PETER (V.O.): I believe my car tires need air too.

134. 
     

135. Peter drives inside a service station.

136. 
     

137. THE END

138. 
     

139. FADE OUT.