Po Kee Tea Shop
- Peter K F Cheung SBS
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
FADE IN
Act 1
EXT. BUS - 12:45
Half full. PETER settles into a window seat. He pulls out his phone. The screen glows: a note-taking app open to a partially completed lyric titled "Dancing Bees".
PETER (V.O.): The bridge sounds nice, but I think the chorus can be better.
Peter types on the search bar: How to write an impressive chorus? The search loads. He scrolls.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): What do I want the listener to walk away with?
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The bridge is the scenic route on the journey? The chorus is the big fat idea?
His face softens into something like recognition.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Scenic route. Big fat idea.
The bus drives past a stop.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Oh my stop!
Act 2
INT. PO KEE TEA SHOP - 14:40
A long queue near the shop. Mostly elderly MEN and WOMEN. A few sit on their portable stools. A wet-haired Peter approaches.
PETER (V.O.): I know they're queuing for free food...
He takes a look of the menu board on a stand near the shop.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Ah, its has got fried noodles tea sets.
He enters, looks around and counts the seats.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Just 10.
He sits on a grey vinyl stool, does his order and stares at THOSE at the head of the queue and the STAFF standing at a folding table with lunch boxes.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Ah, the distribution begins.
Peter checks the phone time while sipping his Ovaltine.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): 2:45pm sharp.
The staff hands the lunch boxes. No words exchanged.Just a transaction of dignity.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd):Each box is a small act of grace. Anonymous. Unacknowledged.
The queue moves. Box by box. Person by person. Peter's fried noodles is put on the table.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): My tea set costs $47.
Soon, the lunch boxes on the folding table are all distributed.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): No more? But the remainder of the queue is still there.
Soon, more lunch boxes are put on the folding table.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Would all get a box?
He watches the last few boxes being handed out.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Oh, a few reach the end of the queue - and there's nothing left.
A staff swiftly folds the table, picks a signboard on a stand and brings them back to the shop. Peter reads the rules on the signboard.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): 230 boxes each day. First-come-first-served.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The people at the end of the queue miss out. It's a fact of life and art.
EXT. TRAIN - 19:30
Wearing a headphone, Peter sits in a priority seat. He types on the search bar of his phone: What is the function of a post-chorus?
PETER (V.O.): Just then, I listened to the song: Always Something There to Remind Me. I love its post-chorus.
He studies the result: The post-chorus reminds you of the big fat idea without restating it.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Observing the elderly queue teaches me about the emotional arc: anticipation, hope, disappointment for the last few.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): A good post-chorus captures that "what's left behind" feeling - the people who didn't get the box, the listeners who feel the silence after the music stops.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Create like the anonymous donor. Letthe bridge be the scenic route, the chorus be the meal, and the post-chorus be the reason someone comes back tomorrow.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Yes, that's what I want for the Dancing Bees. Can I compose a song that echoes?
Act 3
INT. BEDROOM - 21:50
Peter uploads an image to a draft on his laptop. It shows a small street-side shop, and one of the notices on a stand is about the free distribution rules.
PETER (V.O.): The sign says free. The truth says you're not forgotten.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Po Kee Tea Shop is the only place where "while stocks last" sounds like a love letter.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Po Kee doesn't need a bigger kitchen. It needs more people to understand that grace is best served anonymously.
The END
FADE OUT
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