Once Upon a Time
- Peter K F Cheung SBS
- Oct 19, 2020
- 3 min read
FADE IN.
Act 1
INT - SLEEPING ROOM - DAY
In bed, PETER is having screen time.
PETER (V.O.): "At which moments in history do you still remember what you did that day?" That's a Quora answer request.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Let me write about June 30, 1997 when I acted as an escort to the visiting DG of WIPO and how I waited unceremoniously under the rain when Hong Kong rejoined the motherland.
Inserting an image with red flags, Peter types on his phone. Finishing, he's in thoughts.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Today's Oct 18, 2020. Same date last year, I began flying to Canada.
Peter checks his mailbox.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Oh, Brian has sent me an image with the caption "Once Upon a Time".
Peter quickly taps on the mail and sees the image.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Oh, it documented a rare occasion in the summer of 1987, at Russell Square.
Act 2
INT - SLEEPING ROOM - CONTINUOUS
FLASHBACK
EXT. RUSSELL SQUARE PUB - DAY (1987)
Sitting at a roadside table, a PARTY of seven are chatting. Peter (33) sits at the far end, thinking.
PETER (V.O.): Brian is so kind to organize the gathering after our last seminar. The pub is quite near to the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Brian has brought a camera. Yes, it could be the last time we meet after a full year of togetherness in our studies of Air & Space Law in London.
END FLASHBACK
Peter examines the image.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Sitting next to me was our Air & Space Law lecturer, Richard Gardiner. He's a Cambridge U graduate and reads his LLM in London.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): When he was working in the British Foreign Office, he negotiated bilateral agreements.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Sitting next to him is Jitu. He's an Indian from South Africa. I believe he's the only one who can apply what he learned in London as his career.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Sitting opposite to him is Brian. Wearing a beard, he's charismatic. He's a Canadian living in London.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Several months before the gathering, he invited us to his new home. There, I met his wife Nicki.
Checking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): There's someone sitting next to him. He should be Doug, an American.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Sitting next to him was a talkative Indian British girl. Oh, I couldn't remember her name!
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Who was taking the photo?
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): Oh, yes! It was Jessi, the girl from Cameroon.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): She was so kind to capture the moments for us without herself being depicted in it.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Her young and cheerful image remains in my mind though.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): What did we chat about?
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Probably small talks. That might well be the reasons that a few others chose not to join.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Without any visual trigger, I couldn't remember them.
Act 3
INT. SLEEPING ROOM - CONTINOUS
Peter stares at the image.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I looked so young then. I was actually 33.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I won a British Foreign Office scholarship in 1986 and was placed in UCL. They wanted me to study IP, a down-to-earth subject...
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Since the gathering, I met Brian and his family in Victoria, Canada again only last year.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I'm still glad that I made the trip. International travelling can't be taken for granted now.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Then, I believe we didn't know what to expect but just aim high.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): For me, the events were such that my mission was to design and build Hong Kong's IP system before July 1, 1997. I accomplished it on June 27, 1997.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): There're actually many moments I still remember what I did, once upon a time.
Peter lies down in bed again.
FADE OUT.
THE END
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