FADE IN.
Act 1
INT. SLEEPING ROOM - DAY
In bed, PETER takes off his eye mask with a smile.
PETER (V.O.) : I dreamt that I was responsible for space exploration, but my proposed project was shot down. I don't know how the brain works.
Peter tries to get up.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): I had difficulty in bending my back without pain yesterday.
Supporting his body with hands on bed, Peter gets up carefully.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Okay, the strain in my lower back has lessened after a night's good rest. And I wake up again.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): During the pandemic, lives can be shortened to weeks.
INT. SITTING ROOM - DAY
With a cup of water in hand, Peter is in deep thoughts.
PETER (V.O.): Separation is always sad. I am not a religious person and don't believe in resurrection. Two of my late friends were Christians though.
Act 2
INT. SITTING ROOM - CONTINUOUS
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I've been told that our former classmate Debbie died of brain cancer recently. All along she wanted to keep her illness private. We respected that and we didn't meet before our separation.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In 1999, my former colleague Flora was diagnosed of brain cancer. A year or so later, we invited her for lunch and she came. And two-three years later, we heard that she had been hospitalized.
FLASHBACK
INT. WARD, QUEEN MARY HOSPITAL - DAY (2003)
With a small gift in one hand, Peter (48) is visiting FLORA (41) who is sitting up in bed.
PETER: I have brought you a handy radio so that you might listen to it when nobody is around.
Flora gazes at Peter, without making any remarks. Holding her hand, Peter continues to talk to her.
PETER (V.O.): She doesn't speak. Perhaps she couldn't. But I can feel her body language. She's holding my hand tight and wouldn't let go.
Flora continues her gaze at Peter.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): We first met in the Law School in 1981. We have become good colleagues and friends since 1991. We have now made ourselves clear to each other.
END FLASHBACK
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I can never forget that handholding - our first and last one.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): How life is like for terminal brain cancer patients? Can they speak and hear?
Peter taps on his phone.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Oh, here's a memoir of a writer Tom Lubbock living with a brain cancer and telling his own dying story.
Peter reads the small prints.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Oh, towards the end, speech and mind are beyond him. Exit is accompanied by no words...Now, I understand.
After sighing, Peter re-reads the article.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): One of the quotes in the earlier part of his memoir is the oxymoron:"To see a landscape as it is when I am not there..." Simone Weil.
Remembering.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): When I was studying philosophy in the 1970s, I read her work Oppression and Liberty.
Peter taps on his phone again.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Oh, her writing didn't attract much attention until after her death in 1943 at the age of 34.
Peter continues to read.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): She was particularly influential in religious and spiritual matters. Well, for me, I'm interested to know what my Christian friends might believe.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): On friendship, she analyses that meeting and separation are two forms of friendship that contain the same good.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): For true affection, even separation is a link. Is her insight of moral value telling? It can be true at the transcendential level.
Act 3
INT. SITTING ROOM - CONTINOUS
Pondering.
PETER (V.O.): What I can feel now is the stiffness in my lower back. As I don't have any problem in maintaining my upright position, should I do push-ups? Would I hurt myself further when bending my body to get up?
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): How about running? Would it strengthen or hurt my back?
Peter flips through his phone.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Oh, resting the back 1-3 days can help reduce muscle pain...and only then should one engage in low-impact physical activity, such as walking!
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): That's why after my running yesterday morning, I felt so painful in my lower back. I should prevent further muscle sprain.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): And I've jobs to do immediately after Easter. Yes, don't overstretch to endure more.
INT. SLEEPING ROOM - NIGHT
Music from a bedside radio. Peter is in bed.
PETER (V.O.): While I still can, enjoy a little the art of life.
FADE OUT.
THE END
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