Nothing Stays
- Peter K F Cheung SBS
- 1 hour ago
- 3 min read
FADE IN
Act 1
INT. PO FOOK MEMORIAL HALL - 08:40
Getting off a shuttle, PETER enters. At Emily's room, the air smells of incense and lilies. ATTENDANT#1 nods and lets Peter inside.
A small Buddhist-style alter. A framed photo of Emily sits at the center. An incense urn before it.
ATTENDANT#1: You burn incense?
Peter nods.
PETER (V.O.): I do that for Emily.
Attendant#1 lights three sticks from a box. The tips grow orange, then settle into thin grey smoke. He passes them to Peter who places them into the urn. Peter gazes at Emily's photo.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): You did well. Nothing stays. And that's okay.
Later, after some rituals, ATTENDANTS#2 &3 emerge, guiding a wheeled guerney. On it, Emily's coffin. They position it where the alter stood.
ATTENDANT#1: Last look.
Following a queue, Peter looks down at EMILY. Waxy. Peaceful. Soon, ATTENDANTS#2 &3 lower the lid. It clicks shut.
Act 2
INT. WO HOP SEK CREMATORIUM - 10:00
A simple hall. A plain alter. Emily's framed photo. Behind it, a platform with a closed coffin. The MOURNERS gather in rows, speaking to Emily.
MOURNER#1: Emily, you rest now.
MOURNER#2. Emily, no more pain.
MOURNER#3: Emily, no more worries.
PETER: Emily, final farewell. That's that.
Then, LAWRENCE, Emily's husband, presses a button on a small console. We hear a soft hum and see the platform beneath the coffin begining to decend. Slowly. Mechanically. The coffin disappears through the door. Silence.
EXT. FANLING - 10:35
Peter steps off of a coach. He stretches his neck. Then walks. He opens Google Maps on his phone and types: public swimming pool near me. He checks the result.
PETER (V.O.): Fanling public swimming pool. A 7-minute walk.
Open-air public swimming pool. Peter does slow, practised laps. Breaststroke. Freestyle. Backstroke. Butterflystyle.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): No hurry. The pool closes at noon.
He finishes at 11:50. He showers. He dresses.
INT. MALL, FANLING - 12:15
Peter walks along a row of shops.
PETER (V.O.): The nice cha chaan teng I visited a few years ago was here. I wrote a review about it.
He then checks a wall map of mall restaurants.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It's gone. Nothing stays.
Peter enters a restaurant with nice ambiance.
EXT. SHEUNG SHUI - 13:30
Estate coach. Peter sits near the front. The coach winds through roads lined with older buildings, new towers rising behind them. Peter looks out. A corner building. Painted in fresh grey. New alluminium windows. His eyes narrow.
FLASHBACK
EXT. SAME PLACE - NIGHT (Summer 1974)
Peter (20) holds hands with SHARON (19). They linger at the same building.
END FLASHBACK
PETER (V.O.): The flat of Sharon's parents was sold in the 1980s.
The coach moves on. Peter blinks.
INT. PETER'S NT HOME - 14:15
A three-storey house. A framed photo of Sharon sits in a shelf in the sitting room.
PETER (V.O.): I took the photo while we're visiting Beijing during X'mas, 1987.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Here's our first home. We bought it in 1983, when it was a buyer's market.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): When I became counsel in 1985, I cooked up the idea to own premises on the Hong Kong island and in Kowloon too.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): For over 10 years now, only I'd come back occasionally, but I haven't stayed overnight.
Act 3
INT. BEDROOM - 21:45
Peter uploads an image to a draft on his laptop. It depicts a misty Spring hillside in Hakodate that is alive with ancient cherry blossom trees in delicate full bloom, their fleeting pink patels a poignant reminder that nothing stays.
PETER (V.O.): The summer of 1974 is gone. But that building's staircase corner - Sharon's breath on my neck, my hands on her back - that never left.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I don't learn to let go. I learn to carry the weight without asking why the weight is still there.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The clock still ticks in my NT home no one sleeps in. That's not sadness. It's a different kind of staying.
The END
FADE OUT
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