The Keeper of Stones
FADE IN
Act 1
INT. LIVING ROOM - 12:30
Filled with the soft light of midday. The faint clinking of cutlery is heard. PETER sits opposite to his WIFE at a table. They're eating simple salads.
WIFE: About cousin Wai, he's been so good...
PETER: You buy all your stones from him...He's a self-made man.
WIFE: Have you ever met his siblings?
PETER: One of his sisters a few times before her emigrating to Canada in the 1970s.
Pausing.
PETER (Cont'd): Before you can understand cousin Wai, you've to understand my Grandpa.
Act 2
INT. LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS
PETER: Before the summer of 1960, my Grandpa ran a business in Central. But he's a man who couldn't be bothered about anything,
Pausing.
PETER (Cont'd): My non-maternal Grandma who had been living with him kept the business receipts.
Pausing.
PETER (Cont'd): She had already had a daughter from her previous life. Cousin Wai was the daughter's eldest son.
Recalling.
PETER (Cont'd): The actual work of my Grandpa's business however was led by my Dad and my maternal Grandma. They, together with my Dad's siblings. came to join my Grandpa from San Hui after WW2.
Recalling.
PETER (Cont'd): My Dad's siblings had no jobs. My Dad's other job was Chiu Yin Po's photographer. He bought lots of photographic gadgets.
Pausing.
PETER (Cont'd): We had our business staff and domestic helper. And whether close or distant, all our relatives would treat our central premises as the first port of call.
Recalling.
PETER (Cont'd): By Spring, 1960, my Mum wanted very much to live away from the big family. Since my Dad's elder sister's family was operating a farm in Tin Sum, they copied their example.
Recalling.
PETER (Cont'd): Then my Grandpa abruptly closed his business, and we had to move somewhere.
Pausing.
PETER (Cont'd): As our Tin Sum premises was ready, my Grandpa followed us. My non-maternal Grandma moved to her daughter's place.
Pausing.
PETER (Cont'd): And we became disconnected with our relatives, as travelling to Tin Sum wasn't easy.
Pausing.
PETER (Cont'd): When my non-maternal Grandma came, she'd stay with my Grandpa for many days.
PETER (Cont'd): That ended when my Grandpa died in 1962.
Pausing.
PETER (Cont'd): As far as I was aware, he never slept with my maternal Grandma. But she was the only one who kept him company when he died.
Pausing.
PETER (Cont'd): When my non-maternal Grandma died in 1969, I chose to work in Castle Peak Hotel than to attend her funeral.
WIFE: But why was she buried to the right of your Grandpa's grave at the foot of Nipple mountain?
PETER: She was my Grandpa's beloved woman...the ritual of doing that those days was quite simple.
Pausing.
PETER (Cont'd): My maternal Grandma died in 1972, she was buried to the left of my Grandpa's grave. You knew that.
His wife nods.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): My wife knew that I was keen to visit their graves during Ching Ming and Chung Yeung.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Indifference to tradition doesn't destroy a family instantly. It just hollows it out from the outside, generation by generation.
Peter stares at his wife.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): A casual enquiry from my wife turns to rememberance of roots. That's the thing about roots-I think they're buried, but they're always there, waiting to be watered.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Diamonds are forever. But family? Family is only as strong as the members who choose to care.
Act 3
INT. BEDROOM -22:00
Peter uploads an image to a draft on his laptop. It shows a very small piece of stone set in a triangular opening of a gold ring.
PETER (V.O.): Cousin Wai is a keeper of stones. I'm the keeper of stones too. We just work with different materials.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The stones that cousin Wai keeps are physical, tangible and measurable. The "stones" I keep are emotional. intangible and invisible to outsiders.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Yet, both are equally precious. And the most important words in my family aren't "I Love You". They're "Tell Me More".
The END
FADE OUT
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