What I Owe This Moment
- Peter K F Cheung SBS
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
FADE IN
Act 1
EXT. MTR TRAIN - 09:15
Swaying. PETER sits by the door, Holding a phone, he scrolls mindlessly through Facebook. A post stops him. Headline: Why do people want to live forever?
PETER (V.O.): Is that right?
He scrolls past quickly. Another post catches his eyes. Headline: Married at 17, Widowed at 19.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): How old was teenage bride's husband?
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Her husband, Zhang Linfu, was 24 years her senior. She would cllimb Mount Mengliangu to pay tribute to him, guided by the descendant of his counterpart Su Yu.
He exits Facebook and opens his web brower. He types: Zhang Linfu. He scans the Wikipedia entry.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): He was the commander of the 74 Division 1947...
He scrolls further. A wedding photo appears. Zhang stands tall and impossibly handsome.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Ah...I see it. I understand why she would.
Act 2
INT. LAKESIDE RESTAURANT - 10:45
Peter sits alone at a table by the window. He picks at a bamboo steamer. But his attention is fixed entirely on his phone.
PETER (V.O.): I'm reading about the battle of Mount Mengliangu...Zhang 's 74 Division was encircled by Su Yu's East China Field Army in May 1947.
He reads intensely, occasionally shaking his head.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Capable, very capable. But arrogant...
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The nearby reinforcements being too slow, or unwilling, to come to his aid.
He scrolls to a section on Su Yu.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Ah...he's a strategist. The brilliant tactician who consistently defeated larger, better-equipped forces.
Nodding.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Numerical and technical inferiority...overcome by superior maneuver and intelligence.
Peter puts the phone down, staring at the grey lake.
EXT. ESTATE ROADS - 12:15
Quiet. Peter is walking slowly towards his house.
PETER (V.O.): Zhang had a mountain of ego, but without support. Su had synergy.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): As to the numbers on the casualty sheets, they didn't choose Zhang, or Su. They didn't choose the war.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): They're born into it. They've no choice.
INT. PETER'S NT HOME - CONTINUOUS
Peter sits on a sofa, looking out at the green grass in the front garden.
PETER (V.O.): War in China. A time before I was born. Yet it feels so close.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Zhang, Su, the teenage bride...they were all puppets in history's brutal machinery.
Peter picks up his phone. He scrolls back to the first post he saw this morning: Why do people want to live forever?
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Eternal life. They talked about it like it's a weekend getaway. They've never been a number on a casualty sheet.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): They've taken this peace for granted.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): They don't know what it cost to get us here.
Pauisng.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Zhang's young bride died in 2021 at the age of 94. She remained a widow. But was it living?
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): She once said that had she known Zhang would die soon, she would have married him earlier.
He puts his phone down.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I don't want to live forever. I just want to remember what I owe this moment.
Act 3
INT. BEDROOM -22:30
Peter uploads an image to a draft on his laptop. It shows soft light breaking through dark clouds over a quiet shore-feels like an offering of remembrance.
PETER (V.O.): What I owe the past is memory. What I owe the future is a world worth inheriting. But what I owe this moment is simply to be here.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Every choice I make today is a privilege that the fallen solders never had. I owe this moment the dignity of choosing well.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Mortality isn't a tragedy. It's the deadline that gives life its urgency. I owe this moment the grace to meet that deadline without panic.
The END
FADE OUT
Comments