Moving Art
- Peter K F Cheung SBS
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
FADE IN
Act 1
INT. BEDROOM - 08:30
Sunlight filters through the curtains. PETER, propped up against pillows, holds a phone. On screen, a 2026 polar white Sealion 7. Glossy. Silent. Perfect.
PETER (V.O.): My younger son is driving it to work for the first time. We got the car last Saturday.
Peter swipes left. A photo of a 1995 Eunos 30X. Faded Silver. Unloved.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): My family members never bonded to it.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): When my colleague, Flora, saw me driiving it, she remarked that the coupe looked like a bullet... Flora died in 2003.
Sighing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Then, last chance of tax concession. Scrap the unloved. Buy the electric.
He puts the phone down.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Sometimes moving art means letting something unloved to become something useful.
Act 2
EXT - ROADS TOWARDS SILVERSTRAND - 14:15
In his 2000 Previa, Peter drives slowly.
PETER (V.O.): Last Friday, I drove my 2003 numeric blue Smart city coupe back to my NT home. I left it there, alongside my 1989 Nissan 200SX.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I love to drive the Smart car to swim. It's moving art.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): But the Sealion needs a parking lot. One moves forward. Others rest.
He glances at the rearview mirror. Sees nothing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In 2000, I bought this Previa to welcome our newborn younger daughter home.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): She's now a prop artist working in Tokyo.
INT. FAT BOY AUTO-REPAIR - 17:00
Peter's deep blue 2002 Meredes sits in a bay.
FAT BOY: I managed to clear all the error codes and took it for a test drive. It's working properly now.
PETER: Good.
PETER (V.O.): I bought the car to prove to my Dad that I had succeeded.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): My Dad sat in the back seat a few times. He passed away in 2011.
INT. ESTATE CAR PARK - 17:30
Peter walks past a 2001 cyber green New Beetle.
PETER (V.O.): I bought it for my wife to celebrate her admission to read the PCLL at HKU.
Peter takes another look of it.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It's cute and powerful. My wife still drives it.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): But I haven't driven my 1989 Nissan 200 SX for many months.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Sharon drove it only occasionally, since she was perfectly happy for me to drive.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I'm storing stories. Every time I turn the key on any of them, I'm starting a conversation with someone I used to be.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): While I can change the cars to drive, the Previa and the Mercedes are rather fat for the driveway in my NT home.
Peter takes a look of the plate number of the New Beetle.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I instructed my wife to bid for it in 2002, and surprisingly, she got it at a great price - good value for money, especially compared with my other number plates.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I need the cars to carry the lucky numbers. So, I don't have to drive my cars every day for them to be valuable.
Peter smiles.
Act 3
INT. BEDROOM - 22:15
Peter uploads an image to a draft on his laptop. It shows his 2003 numeric blue SMART city coupe at the Silverstrand Bay public car park.
PETER (V.O.): Moving art is anything that makes me turn around after I've parked it.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): If art only hangs on walls. It's dead. Real art waits in the driveway, covered in dust, still humming.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The BYD Sealion is the future. The Nissan 200SX is the past. The SMART car is the present tense of joy.
The END
FADE OUT
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