A bit into the future, surely not much more than to the year of 2019. Morning breezes persisted to accompany the still-green-but-merely-different from-the-latter-of-the-year mornings of December. With a bit of the morning cold-feet syndrome, Richard Keys was in heavy mental preparations prior to unleashing from the grip that softly laid him in his bed. In his early stage of manhood he was yet he surely had a vision. It remains to be undecided whether he was a visionary as it could easily have been that the idea he brought to mind and to his business card was something someone on some day in the past had said.
Still he had to have a vision. Declared to be a salesman by himself, his job truly was strict at Danube Enterprises, an organisation specialized in "gathering" the world's water supplies by negotiating with local people and governments around the world. No, he wasn't a manager. Yes, Head Negotiator he was. Yes, a cosy work behind the teleconference screen limited to a cubicle spiced with two children and a lovely girl of his. After concluding a short meeting with the fridge merely holding a monologue about what to put on the morning menu, seeking the way on the mobile, he slipped into the back of the car and mumbled: "Be water, my friend. Empty your mind. Empty your mind … Be shapeless - like water. Adapt to the situation." The car started driving. A telephone interrupted. There was a tone, not a ring, a tone. Richard did not even remember when he heard his superior in a phone call and also was unsure whether he saw him once or twice at a seminar. How bothersome, he had to reverse the course on the phone's GPS which now guided the car to the airport.
In 3 minutes, a cosy seat with multimedia entertainment to Palestine awaited him. Usurious flight companies again wanted to grab cents from him to deliver a holographic message to Hanna and Kent, his children currently enjoying the winter break in space. He started to think about what to bring them home for Christmas - something remarkable, different from last year and truly valuable. "Hurry," he heard walking down the airplane stairs. Before he noticed a local waving to him, he was unpleasantly surprised with what the horizon had to offer. A bit of military cosmic shields, transporters and machinery over there, piles of smoke and plain desert - at least the sun was pleasantly shining. The man grabbed him and they ran to an armoured vehicle. "What's going on?" Richard wondered loudly and the man yelled: "Haven't you heard?" "No wonder you Western folks haven't heard, the government has partnered with China now to block the internet". No, Richard was not aware of the happening for sure. Yes, he walked the news path every day on the interwebs because of business, but could not remember anything so bizarre. "I can only see you locals here take business only by the law of the strongest," he grinned to the other man. "A struggle is a business for some, yes," the man said with a taste of irony in his words. "So, we're not here to close the business on acquiring water from the Eastern Hills?" "Oh, of course, they sell at a reduced price now when there is no water" was another in the set of jokes. Richard was all ears now listening to the story how drop by drop the governmental water reserves dripped away to visitors, tourists and the most thirsty of all - nuclear corporations when after a sudden moment the locals realized taking a shower at least once a day is impossible if you only get a bucket of usable water. Also, nobody was hungry and everybody was thirsty. A zip and they arrive to the front of a palace. The man continued while walking, "We can stop at the store over there, if you'd like to see it on your eyes. A holographic display or a computer for two small buckets of water is a deal to expect." "Wait, wait, wait," Richard started anxiously now, "If we made no progress in closing any deals, why did the Board have to bring me here right before Christmas? This is outrageous. I'm going home." "Not so fast! You aren't here to get water, you are here to give water. At a reasonable price, of course. This are going to be massive profits!" In another sudden moment, before Richard could even realize if what was about to be done was good or evil, a mob of people started running towards. Overlooking the crowd, Richard saw a strong frontline of fighters prepared to take him for hostage and another line of men carrying protest signs with that intention clearly written on boards - but what was shocking most was the last, barely visible lines of people ... Thirsty, drained of energy, … He could not adopt to the situation, not this one. It all went to blackness and Richard only knew he had never been so thirsty before. Luckily, he grabbed the soft drink from the seat in front of him realizing he has woken up in his car unsure whether it was a soon-to-be reality or only a lunatic dream that he saw. Either way, that day changed his perception of his work and how he adopted to the situation. Over the next months, deals for the company suddenly started to drop. Mr Keys was in charge of that, in charge of decommercialising water by ruining his deals intentionally. Of course he paid for all of it with the loss of his job but still - he was satisfied.
Returning to that Christmas after the dream, his children were less satisfied. Still, they one day might understand and value the bucket of pure water he had brought for them more.