... All he knows during the day is the flickering fluorescent lights and the dilapidated walls of his cubicle. For lunch, he goes to the staff cafeteria, because everyone else goes, and why should he be any different? He works all day until six o'clock and then finally clocks out. The first few weeks, when he had just gotten the job, going back outside was magical. He got to view the sun, or rain, or snow, and he could breathe fresh air(if you call city air fresh). Now on occasion, this man would get up to stretch his legs throughout the day, and would often go to a window to watch the lake. He could not see the people, but the lake itself was mesmerizing. Each day he promised himself he would go see it after work, but he never got the time. He lived in an apartment nearby, but was usually working or sleeping, thinking only of the money he would have later on in life. Eventually the lake, as with the fresh air and sun after work, became less and less magical and more and more mundane. He stopped noticing the sun, and found that he didn't really care about whether he was breathing in the fresh air of the world or the manufactured air of the skyscraper. Time went by, a good portion of this man's life in fact, but to the skyscraper it was merely a blip. One day the man decided he ought to go look out the window at the lake again, for he hadn't done so in over a year. He went to the window that he had looked out of time and time again, but instead of the majestic lake he was expecting, the skyscraper's eyes showed him only more buildings. He was devastated, and asked around as to where the lake had gone. His coworkers laughed at him, saying that they had drained the lake over 7 months ago for "developing". The skyscraper had wanted the lake drained. It was of no use to the "greater good", and so the skyscraper laughed also, laughed at the little man he would forget tomorrow. The man went on working, but he was disheartened and sad. He had never taken the time to visit the lake, and this he mulled over continuously like a lover he had never gotten to love. He started to go out for lunch, but he realized that with all the new buildings, he couldn't even see the sun. ...
