Late Blossoms

1. Act 1

2. 
   

3. EXT. CLEAR WATER BAY ROAD - 10:30

4. 
   

5. The road winds along the coastline. Green hills on one side. Glimpses of the sea on the other. Driving his numeric blue SMART city coupe, PETER settles into the rhythm of the road.

6. 
   

7.  PETER (V.O.): My mind is drifting.

8. 
   

9. By pressing a button on the stick, Peter switches the mode from automatic to manual.

10. 
    

11. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Today, I've a date with my wife to admire cherry blossoms in Hong Kong.

12. 
    

13. Peter pushes the stick forward, seamlessly shifting through the gears from 1 to 5.

14. 
    

15. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): But I wouldn't let it disrupt my daily routines. I've already kept up with my Duolingo streaks. Yesterday, I swam at Silverstrand Bay, and I'm going to repeat that.

16. 
    

17. Later, Peter pulls the stick back, deftly transitioning from gear 5 back down to gear 1.

18. 
    

19. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Each response is immediate and perfect.

20. 
    

21. Recalling.

22. 
    

23. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In the 1970s, this would have felt like witchcraft.

24. 
    

25. Peter arrives at the Silverstrand car park.

26. 
    

27. Act 2

28. 
    

29. EXT. GATEWAY, TUNG CHUNG - 17:20

30. 
    

31. The car is parked. Peter and his WIFE walk away from the car park, making their way to the HKIA cherry blossom garden.

32. 
    

33. PETER (V.O.): After my daily swim, I took advantage of the early afternoon to return to my chambers and collect a Chinese New Year hamper.

34. 
    

35. The Lantau Peak looms in the distance, its slopes brushed with the soft light of the declining sun. Peter glances at it, his expression momentarily distant.

37. WIFE: What is it?

38. 
    

39. PETER: I'm thinking about my late classmates, King Chau and Shu Fun. Remember I told you?

40. 
    

41. WIFE: Yes, the Lantau Peak sunrise.

42. 
    

43. PETER: They, along with a male and a female student from the class of 1974 set out to watch the sunrise from the summit. Only the male student returned.

44. 
    

45. Pausing.

46. 
    

47. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Like me, they held many dreams, yet fate hadn't allowed them to realise those aspirations.

48. 
    

49. Peter sighs.

50. 
    

51. EXT. HKIA CHERRY BLOSSOM GARDEN - 17:45

52. 
    

53. The trees stand bare, a few sad, brown patels clinging to the branches. The ground beneath is a carpet of withered, brownwish-pink mush. Peter and his wife stop at the edge.

54. 
    

55. PETER: Oh. We're late.

56. 
    

57. PETER (V.O.): All that way to Asahigawa for the Snow Festival, and we come home to...this.

59. WIFE: A week late, by the look of it.

60. 
    

61. PETER (V.O.): It's funny. The snow in Asahigawa was perfect. Permanent, for those few days. And this...this is just gone.

62. 
    

63. Pausing.

64. 
    

65. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): We'll see them in Hokodate in late April. Real ones. In full bloom.

66. 
    

67. A few disappointed PEOPLE take half-hearted photos. Peter's gaze drifts to the imposing, permanent shape of Lantau Peak.

68. 
    

69. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I see the Peak and the dead blossoms in the same frame.

70. 
    

71. PETER: King Chau and Shu Fun didn't see the sunrise in the summer of 1974....

72. 
    

73. Pausing.

74. 
    

75. PETER (Cont'd): Just days after our matriculation exams in 1973, our class of 1973 had a two-day, one-night stay at a campsite up there.

76. 
    

77. His wife listens understandably.

78. 
    

79. PETER (Cont'd): It didn't occur to us to go for the sunrise.

80. 
    

81. Pausing.

82. 
    

83. PETER (Cont'd): Since we weren't admitted to HKU, they decided to repeat a year while I joined the civil service.

84. 
    

85. Pausing.

86. 
    

87. PETER (Cont'd): Just days after the matriculation exams in 1974, we gathered at Shu Fun's home, where he kindly offered to cut my hair.

88. 
    

89. Pausing.

90. 
    

91. PETER (Cont'd): Afterward, they head off to Lantau again.

92. 
    

93. Peter captures a photo of Lantau Peak.

94. 
    

95. PETER (V.O.): The photograph of Lantau Peak isn't a landscape. It's a portrait of thoses who never came down.

96. 
    

97. Pausing.

98. 
    

99. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I go to see flowers that have already fallen, and found my friends among the petals.

100. 
     

101. Act 3

102. 
     

103. EXT. PETER'S CAR - 20:15

105. Peter is in the passenger seat. His wife drives. They're pulling out of the Gateway car park.

106. 
     

107. PETER: We flew to Asahigawa for snow that would melt, and rushed home for blossoms that have already fallen. We're always chasing things that can't stay.

108. 
     

109. His wife nods.

110. 
     

111. PETER (V.O.): The mountain doesn't bloom. That's why it lasts.

112. 
     

113. Peter reviews the photos he has captured on his phone.

114. 
     

115. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): We aren't late for the blossoms. The blossoms are late - late in their cycle, late in their falling, late like friends who left too soon. Everything arrives at its own ending.

116. 
     

117. The END

118. 
     

119. FADE OUT