One

I fell onto the bed. I was exhausted. In my mind, I went through all the sites I had been visiting throughout the week.

The desert. It was a large area about 350 km away from Cairo. The entire 500 acres was owned by a single owner, and so it was safe from any land claims, the dealer had told me. But it was blazing hot. Within minutes of me inspecting the area, the water underneath my skin had been completely depleted. Heat is not an attractive feature for a City of the Future, I thought to myself, and I moved on.

This went on for a few more places, until I came across the one which I felt sure of. That was the kind of place that could fulfill my dreams.

The mini-forest at the center could be used to achieve the touristic goals. The sunlight, accompanied by only moderate amounts of heat, could be used to generate alternative energy, which had to be the basis of the City Project. But what sold me out had been the wide river which made its way through the forest, creating an atmosphere which couldn't be found anywhere else on the Earth.

"I'll give you 10 million dollars for the 450 acres.”,  I said firmly to the agent. He replied, "Listen, I am offering you the land at almost 1000 dollars lesser cost per acre than what was originally demanded. We've got a long queue of people waiting to buy pieces of the land. We preferred you as you're the only one who wanted to buy the entire area. But if you want a cheap rate, I suggest you seek land someplace else". The man was a tough negotiator, I realized. But I was tougher. "I'll give you a million dollars in advance, and once the deal is settled, I'll complete the full payment of the 10 million dollars.”. The agent smiled. The value of the deal was much lower than what I had originally been prepared to settle. "Alright that's a deal then.", came the agent's reply.

I had dozed off as soon as I was seated in the window-seat in the airplane on the way home.