The Number

Should I even write about this?

It is Sunday night - nice touch - and I have planned my lessons for the college. It will mostly be a review of the material we have already covered and I will be preparing them for the exam they have after their spring break. And I have some new online students who will just want to chat and discuss how to improve their English skills. I will have a lot of time to meditate and focus on what this means.

That number...

You all know that it is a very loaded set of digits. Even those of you out there who have not read the Book of Revelation understand that this number is truly toxic:

"Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is 666." - The Book of Revelation (13:18).

Now, perhaps one day I will go running back to church, making my mother very happy, but I do not think that this is the number I should focus on. I have my pin number, phone number, social insurance number...the numbers on my bills from the phone and credit card companies. These are the ones that are foremost in our minds.

But still, that number...

As I thought about this piece, I knew that there was going to be a song in my head that I could not escape. No, not the best years of heavy metal (Iron Maiden's 'Number of the Beast' was too obvious). I mean instead one of my all-time favourite indie songs:

Okay, this is one more of those obscure songs that many of you Taylor Swift or Ed Sheeran fans have never heard. 'Monkey Gone to Heaven' was on the first Pixies album I ever owned and loved (I was fifteen and out of step with almost everything else on the charts), and I agree with the sentiment expressed in this article.

But there is a very important reason why I had it in my head as I noted my number of stories.

After an interesting tale of a guy who 'controlled all the sea,' and then got killed 'by ten million pounds of sludge from New York and New Jersey,' we get this:

The creature in the sky

Got sucked in a hole, now there's a hole in the sky

And the ground's not cold

And if the ground's not cold, everything is gonna burn

We'll all take turns, I'll get mine too

A vivid description of the last days? I think so...

But it gets better...or darker:

If man is five

If man is five

If man is five

Then the devil is six

Then the devil is six

Then the devil is six

Then the devil is six

And if the devil is six

Then God is seven

Then God is seven

Then God is seven

I need to thank Francis, Kim, Joey and Dave for this one. I think that this is a perfect balance between these entities that makes a hell of a lot of sense when looked at coldly on the page. And it is much more interesting to think that we all have a number in our corner. We need all the luck we can get.

So, it is my milestone...or millstone. And please note one final thing: this is not the 666th article (the one before it was).

My apologies for that.

It's just the devil in me...

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You can find more poems, stories, and articles by Kendall Defoe on my Vocal profile. I complain, argue, provoke and create...just like everybody else.

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