FADE IN
Act 1
INT. STUDY - 11:00
PETER is reading a book on Writing Power.
PETER (V.O.): These are really power lines.
On a page's hight light box, we see the following:
The ease in writing comes from art, not chance.
As those move easiest who have learned to dance.
'Tis not enough no harshness gives offence.
The sound must seem an echo to the sense.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): : Insightful and poetic, who wrote the lines?
We see the attribution at the bottom of the box: Alexander Pope.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Him?
Act 2
INT. LAKESIDE MALL - 14:00
Under the rain, Peter, in a white windbreaker, walks past a yard hedged in by hydrangeas.
PETER (V.O.): I know these 1-meter tall shrubs can live to 50 years.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.): My first impression of their rounded clusters of flowers was in 1973. At a Lantau Peak campsite, my girl matriculation classmates were fond of them.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In our Arts class, many girls took English Literature. There're a few boys, including me.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): One of the works taught in class was "The Rape of the Lock" by Alexander Pope.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It was about a trivial incident - the cutting off the lock of a woman's hair without permission.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The 17th C poem was so long and religious that it was repugnant to me.
Lowering body, Peter captures a photo of a French hydrangea flowers with raindrops.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I gave up Alexander Pope's work and chose to self-study a novel instead.
Peter walks towards a small restaurant.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): But my dream to read English Literature at HKU didn't come true.
Stepping inside, Peter orders and pays at the cashier
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): When I was having a two-day trip with my matriculation classmates after our completion of the exams, I had only HK$20.
Waiting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Several months before I took the exams, I had stopped working part-time on Sundays.
FLASHBACK
EXT. BUS STOP, LANTAU - DAY (Summer 1973)
Peter (19) and his CLASSMATES are waiting. Peter talks to WONG.
PETER: I've only HK$20. If that isn't enough for my share of the trip, will you support me?
WONG: No problem!
Overhearing the conversation, CLASSMATE#1 remarks cynically.
CLASSMATE#1:No money. Why join!
RETURN TO PRESENT
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It was harsh and offensive. But I thought I deserved a short break.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It turned out that my HK$20 was good enough for the trip.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.): After the trip, I began working full-time as a bartender at the Lido Restaurant in Repulse Bay. A plate of fried noodles there costed HK$9.9. My monthly wages was HK$900.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): By Sept, 1973, I became a teacher at Pak Kau Middle School in Kam Tin. My class had over 45 students but my monthly salary was just HK$700.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): That's enough for me to get by, then.
Act 3
INT. STUDY - 23:00
The book Writing Power by his side, Peter is in thoughts.
PETER (V.O.): Rainstorms aside, if I didn't return to my NT home and saw the French hydrangea flowers, I wouldn't have my remember-when emotions.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The matriculation days when I had to wear white school uniform were my colourful days.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The days ended almost 50 years ago; but the vivid scenes sound like echoes to my senses.
Peter takes another look of the power lines.
THE END
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