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Writer's picturePeter K F Cheung SBS

Another Amazing Gift

  1. FADE IN.


  2. Act 1


  3. INT. BEDROOM - 08:30


  4. Urged by KAJI, the family pet, PETER gets out of bed.


  5. PETER (V.O.): Today's Monday. I'll go back to HKU library to return a book.


  6. INT. STUDY - 09:00


  7. Peter grabs a thick book on Philosophy.


  8. PETER (V.O.): Let me re-read Plato.


  9. We see on text: Plato (427-347 B.C.)


  10. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): He lived for 80 years.


  11. We see on text: Returning from Sicily in 387 B.C., he established his academy.


  12. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): He was 50 years old then.


  13. Act 2


  14. FLASHBACK


  15. EXT. ESTATE STREET - NIGHT (Yesterday)


  16. Walking towards a car park, Peter chats with his SON.


  17. PETER: I only began my legal career at the age of 31, after completing my PCLL at HKU in 1985.


  18. Pausing.


  19. PETER (Cont'd): When compared with my peers, I was seven years late.


  20. Pausing.


  21. PETER (Cont'd): I spent the prime of my life mostly on monitoring car repairs.


  22. Later, Peter watches his son driving out from the car park.


  23. PETER (V.O.): He has begun another good phase of his life.


  24. RETURN TO PRESENT


  25. EXT. HKU CAMPUS - 13:00


  26. Peter is strolling around the Old Building.


  27. PETER (V.O.): In 1977 when I was at age 23, I attended my first law lecture in a G/F lecture room here.


  28. Pausing.


  29. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I was doing a Housing Management course. Mr Wilfred Lee, a Crown Counsel then, first taught me.


  30. Pausing.


  31. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): When I met Wilfred again decades later, I thanked him for his inspiration.


  32. Peter walks past the roadside car parks near West Gate.


  33. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd):I used to park my Ford Capri here from 1977-1980.


  34. Recalling.

  35. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): One afternoon in 1982, a female law classmate suddenly felt like walking arm-in-arm with me along the road here.


  36. Smiling.


  37. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Sweet memory for me as a mature-and-married student.


  38. Pausing.


  39. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): But we've lost contact after graduation. How is she now?


  40. EXT. SUPERMARKET - 13:45


  41. Seeing the disorganised display of tin food on a stack, Peter is surprised.


  42. PETER (V.O.): Days ago, I bought three tins of abalone with different flavours. My wife and I screened out the least tasteful one.


  43. Pausing.


  44. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): And now, only those least tasteful ones remain. So humans do have something in common.


  45. INT. STUDY - 15:00


  46. We see Peter reading texts on Mayflies:...the last day of their life is spent on the wing...mating and reproducing.


  47. PETER (V.O.): They don't even have time to eat and so they never develop mouths...


  48. Pausing.


  49. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): What can we learn from them about living our lives?


  50. Act 3


  51. INT. BEDROOM - 23:00


  52. Kaji is already in bed. We hear oldies: ...And I can break away to the better life where the shackles never hold me down...


  53. PETER (V.O.): Life is a gift.


  54. We continue to hear the singing: I'm gonna make a way for each happy day as my life turns around.


  55. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Plato devoted this life to one goal - helping people reach a state of fulfillment.


  56. Thinking.


  57. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): How to live life is our choice. We've the chance to live it to the fullest.


  58. Thinking.


  59. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): When I wake up on Tuesday, I'd recognise another amazing gift.


  60. THE END.


  61. FADE OUT

























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