What Was Lost Was Lost
- Peter K F Cheung SBS
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
FADE IN
Act 1
INT. BEDROOM - 07:05
Quiet. PETER lies asleep. His breathing becomes irregular. His fingers twitch.
DREAM SEQUENCE
INT. PETER'S CHILDHOOD HOME - DAY
Drawers yanked open, content strewn. A BURGLAR, with easy confidence, looms over Peter.
BURGLAR: You see this? You can't touch me.
Peter tries to move. His legs are stone. His arms won't rise.
PETER (V.O.): Why?
END DREAM SEQUENCE
Peter gasps awake. Hand pressed to his chest. He looks at his hands. Real.
Act 2
FLASHBACK
INT. TAK FOOK RESTAURANT - 13:15 (Mother's Day, 2026)
A round table. Lazy Susan in the center. Baskets of dumplings, dishes of noodles, bowls of congee. At the head of the table sits MOM (96) in a wheelchair, her silver hair soft, her eyes drifting.
Around her: Peter and his WIFE, SISTER, BROTHER#1 & SISTER-IN-LAW#1, BROTHER#2 and SISTER-IN-LAW#2 and BROTHER#3.
A WAITRESS sets down a plate of fried prawns drizzled with fragrant soy sauce on the table. Peter's wife carefully uses her fingers to peel and split open the crispy shell of one prawn and let Mom hold it.
Though Mom has no teeth left, she takes a small bite, chews slowly with a look of pure delight, and exclaims with a bright smile.
MOM: Mmm...very delicious!
Laughter.
SISTER: The food at her elderly home is bland and blended into mush.
SISTER-IN-LAW#1: Today is different.
Then, Brother#2 lovingly feeds Mom with silky congee, one comforting spoon at a time.
Peter snaps cheerful selfies and shares them over the family chat group.
PETER (V.O.): They preserve the precious family moment forever.
Later, the lunch is winding down. Brother#2 speaks to Peter in particular.
BROTHER#2: I double-checked our childhood home last week...
He puts down his teacup.
BROTHER#2 (Cont'd): I even checked the floor under the bed...
Obvious frustration on his face.
BROTHER#2 (Cont'd): There's nothing left...
PETER (V.O.): It was burgled a few times.
BROTHER#2 (Cont'd): Whatever Mom and Dad had in there.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Before our Dad passed away in 2011, he told him that there're valuables hidden in our childhood home.
Peter nods.
PETER: We don't even know what they had.
They glance at their Mom.
PETER (Cont'd): And Mom couldn't even remember Dad...
Sighing.
PETER (V.O.): Since the latest burglary of our childhood home, we did the right thing to mine the valuables hidden in the second home of Mom and Dad.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): We catalogued everything. It's still Mom's. We're holding it just in trust for her.
Before they part, Mom stares at them and speaks lovingly.
MOM: I...I don't know who you're. But I feel loved.
Peter and his wife unlock Mom's wheelchaired brakes. Peter's wife put her hands on the wheelchair handles. She pushes. The wheelchair rolls. Peter and her Mom hold hands.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): What was lost, was lost - Mom's memory of our faces, our names and the decade she hid the valuables. But her hands still knows how to hold.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): What Mom couldn't remember, we remember for her. That becomes the new inheritance.
RETURN TO PRESENT.
Act 3
INT. BEDROOM - 21:15
Peter uploads an image to a draft on his laptop. It shows thick stacks of banknotes tightly wrapped in clear plastic and piled inside a metal container.
PETER (V.O.): We don't mourn what we never knew we had. We mourn the chance to have known.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): What was lost was lost. What remains is never small.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Our Mom doesn't recognize us. But she knows we love her. That's almost everything.
The END
FADE OUT
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