He'd bought the land forty years ago, when land was cheap and the village was still four miles down the road. Three acres, enough, he decided, upon which to build his castle. He wanted a big house, with rooms for no other purpose except to exist. But that required money, and he'd spent all he had, for the moment, on the land itself. So he contented with a small wooden cabin and reassured himself that one day, he'd have that huge house of his dreams. In the interim, he faithfully mowed the acreage to keep it trim. But it only took a few months of that before he decided he'd had enough, that he could get away with less mowing time by planting a few flowers, maybe some trees. Those didnt need a lot of maintenance, and they'd take up some space. Win win all around, he decided with a grin. Years passed, and the village became a city whose limits now met his own. When he was incorporated inside it, he was told his cabin didnt meet building standards. So he nodded his head and rebuilt it into a wooden frame house the same size. Nothing lavish: a bedroom, a living room, a kitchen, a bath. He didnt want to waste the money or the energy when he knew that someday he'd be building the house for which this acreage was intended. More years passed, and his once isolated lot was now encircled by developments of huge buildings, structures so large they barely remained within their lots. There were more people now, so he built a fence to keep them off his land, then added more flowers. His wood frame house was now starting to crack and shift, so he rebuilt it one more time, this time of bricks, with a little ornamental window over the door. Evenings, he would sit outside, enjoying the night air as it rustled through the trees on his lawn. The few flowers had now become gardens that commanded a full half of the space, and the smell, at that moment, the very tag end of the day, was sweet. Calming. Delicious. He looked across the way, at his neighbours, in their big buildings in the big developments. As the sun settled, they turned on their lights and locked their doors, a wall of light around the man's little castle on his three acres of land.