Still Life
- Peter K F Cheung SBS
- 3 minutes ago
- 3 min read
FADE IN
Act 1
INT. BEDROOM - 10:00
Putting aside some of his handheld device, PETER grabs his swim bag.
PETER (V.O.): Time to do my daily swim.
Soon after leaving, he returns.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Why wouldn't I wear my new headset? I love its two-tone colours.
Happily, Peter puts on the headset and turns on Bluetooth to connect internet Jazz music.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The headset is a conduct to the world within.
Listening.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The music, inaudible to others, is painting on the canvas of my face.
Peter smiles.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): A still life isn't about the things that don't move. It's like the silence that holds the music.
Act 2
EXT. URBAN LOTUS POND - 12:10
Sunny. Lotus leaves and lotus flowers. Like other PASSERS-BY, Peter stops to appreciate them.
PETER (V.O.): It's a still life in real-time, a painting being created by nature.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Earlier in the week, I joined a package tour to see the red leaves in Gui Feng Mountain, Xinhui, but to my disappointment, the leaves were still green, unlike what was shown in the brochure.
Peter sits still on the edge of the pond, taking a selfie.
EXT. ESTATE PARK - 13: 00
Large and green. Peter walks Dai Gou, the family turtle.
PETER (V.O.): I want him to stretch his legs and soak up the sunshine.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): A life can appear to be a still life - quiet, composed, seemingly static. But look closer.
Peter takes photos of Dai Gou.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Within that frame, a heart still beats, a mind still learns, and a soul still blooms.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): A still life isn't a picture of things, but a portrait of time itself - capturing the quiet moment between the breath in and the breath out.
Peter's stillness is different now. It's the stillness of memory.
FLASHBACK
EXT. WATERFRONT PARK - 13:00 (18 Dec 2022)
NANA, Dai Gou's wife, stays motionless in a patch of sunlight.
PETER (V.O.): Days ago, she had an egg-laying problem, resulting an organ protruding from the vent.
Gazing at Nana.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): We took her to the vet immediately. The vet diagnosed her condition as very poor.
Gazing at Nana.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): And if we chose surgery, there was a strong likelihood she might not survive the operation. The vet recommended euthanasia.
Gazing at Nana.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): My family has finally come to terms with the vet's advice that we shouldn't prolong her suffering.
Peter looks like he's trying to endure the unbearable.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I think she likes the sunshine; and we'll take her to the vet by sunset.
END FLASHBACK
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Grief frames my life like a still life, freezing me in a moment of loss.
INT. LIVING ROOM - 18.00
The light is softer, golden. Peter sits at an upright piano. A perfect still life.
PETER (V.O.): On this Saturday, I'm basically home alone.
His eyes flick from the sheet music to the keys, and then places his fingers over them tentatively.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Sight reading isn't easy for me, and my poor eyesight makes it even more challenging.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I've been practising stillness, to better understand motion.
Act 3
INT. BEDROOM - 21:30
Peter uploads an image of Dai Gou, the family turtle, basking in the sunlight to a draft on his laptop.
PETER (V.O.): I'm composing my own still life - not with fruit and wine, but with morning swims, lotus flowers, and the stubborn, hopeful notes of a piano.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I'm the curator of my own still life, arranging the mundane and the magnificient into the composition that is a day, a year, a life.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The power of a still life is that it finds the profound in the provisional. It's a masterpiece built from the things I use and the moments I too often let pass by.
FADE OUT
END
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