top of page
Search

Route#16 Bus

Writer's picture: Peter K F Cheung SBSPeter K F Cheung SBS
  1. FADE IN.


  2. Act 1


  3. EXT. ROADS - MORNING


  4. PETER in suit is walking leisurely towards a row of bus stops.


  5. PETER (V.O): I need to read many files in court today. But it's up to me as to when I should arrive.


  6. Pausing.


  7. PETER (V.O.): Yesterday, I checked that apart from taking the convenient green bus near my home, I could also take the KMB Route#16 bus there.


  8. Pausing.


  9. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): When was the last time I rode on a Route#16 bus?


  10. Peter surfs the web with this phone.


  11. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It was in mid-July 1973 that KMB rearranged its bus routes.


  12. Peter sees a Route#16M passing by.


  13. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): No, that isn't a Route#16 bus.


  14. Act 2


  15. INT. BUS STOP - LATER


  16. Peter waits at a bus stop.


  17. FLASHBACK


  18. EXT. JORDON ROAD BUS TERMINAL - DAY (1960)


  19. Coming out from a ferry pier, Peter (5) follows his DAD (27) to the Route#16 bus terminal. They get on board a single decker and take their seats.


  20. PETER (V.O.): The non-cushioned seats can't be compared with bus seats on the Hong Kong island side.


  21. Hawkers get on board of the bus, selling magazines and chewing gums etc.


  22. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): This is pleasantly different though. It seems that we're going somewhere far away.


  23. END FLASHBACK


  24. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The trip wasn't short. The Kowloon scenes weren't eye- appealing. When we're in NT, even the sea and green fields looked boring.


  25. Pausing.


  26. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): We got off at Tin Sum, about 23 1/2 miles from Tsimshatsui. That was the way to identify our location.


  27. Pausing.


  28. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): My parents were building our living quarters, chicken sheds and a pigsty on virgin land. They bought the land for HK$2,500.


  29. Pausing.


  30. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Decades later, I found out that the vendor bought the land at HK$1,500 just months earlier before reselling it to my parents.


  31. Pausing.


  32. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): My parents believed that they should become independent. Running a farm could be a way to make a living.


  33. Recalling.


  34. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): But they knew nothing about the nitty gritty. We needed lots of help from our good neighbours.


  35. Pausing.


  36. PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): Even so, it wasn't long for the family to realize that it was a non-profit-making business.


  37. Pausing.


  38. PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): Then, there're cottage industries in the vicinity. Earning wages as employees were my parents' only option.


  39. Pausing.


  40. PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): My Dad, who used to work as a newspaper photographer in Central, became a labourer in an iron foundry.


  41. Pausing.


  42. PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): My Mom, after giving birth to her 5th child, began working as a factory worker.


  43. Recalling.


  44. PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): While my parents provided us a roof over our heads, putting food on the table for a family of 9 was hard.


  45. Recalling.


  46. PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): Over money matters, like paying school fees, my Mom could become bad tempered.


  47. Pausing.


  48. PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd):She complained a lot and my Dad took all the blame silently.


  49. Recalling.


  50. PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): When my Dad became a skilled welder, his work life was a little easier. My grandma would boil some "sugar water", and I would bring it to my Dad at 3.15pm.


  51. Sighing.


  52. PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): Then came the 1967 Hong Kong riots. My Dad became unemployed. And I could have become a car mechanic's apprentice.


  53. EXT. BUS (MOVIING) - LATER


  54. Sitting in the middle of the last row of a double-decker bus, Peter is in thoughts.


  55. PETER (V.O.): In 1968, my Dad joined KMB, as a bus conductor. After working in Kowloon routes for a while, he was transferred to work on NT routes.


  56. Pausing.


  57. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Later, he became the terminal captain of Route#19. The bus route was from Castle Peak Bay to Sheung Tsuen - where the British barracks were.

  58. Recalling.


  59. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): He worked on the route until his retirement in early 1992. Soon, he helped me to bring up my only son then.


  60. Peter gets off at a stop.


  61. Act 3


  62. EXT. ROADS - CONTINUOUS


  63. Walking.


  64. PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): Before mid-July 1973, I took the Route#19 bus to Yuen Long to attend my secondary schooling or to Castle Peak Bay for the summer sun and beaches.


  65. Recalling.


  66. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): When I went working in Castle Peak Hotel either from home on Sundays or after school on week days, I took the Route#16 bus.


  67. Peter stops at a crossing.


  68. PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): Now, I don't take a linear view of the illusive time. Time itself is unreal. All "the past", "the present" and even "the future" are one in spacetime. They're all in "the now" - appearing in my mind.


  69. Crossing a road, Peter enters a court building.


  70. FADE OUT.


  71. THE END


3 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Into the Deep

FADE IN Act 1   INT. LIVING ROOM - 12:30 PETER stares at his laptop, with a weathered face and determined eyes. PETER (V.O.): I've...

Kaji: The Unseen Bond

FADE I N   A ct 1   INT. HOME - MORNING   Cozy. KAJI sits by the front door. KAJI (V.O.): My world revolves around the Pack Leader and...

Yorumlar


  • Facebook Social Icon
  • Twitter Social Icon
  • LinkedIn Social Icon

+(852) 6819 8258

Fortune Chambers, 2305, Tower Two,

Lippo Centre, 89 Queensway, Hong Kong 

©2017 BY PETER KAM FAI CHEUNG. PROUDLY CREATED WITH WIX.COM

bottom of page