Tanya looked down at her newborn brother. “He’s so cute!” she thought. She wanted to reach out and stroke him, but the safety glass, a precaution to stop bacteria, kept them apart. She wondered when he would learn his number.
Tanya still didn’t understand the significance of the numbers. She knew that one couldn’t find it for oneself –at least not consciously. As far as she knew, the only way to figure it out was responding to the question, “What is your number?” She looked down at her shoes, noticing the scuffs on her flats. The day when she first responded to that question remained vivid in her mind even three years later.
The details of the story were a bit fuzzy in her mind, as she had only been 4 at the time, but she had been told that she had been baking chocolate chip cookies with her mother. Her mother had said, “two cups of sugar.”
“One two one two one two” sang the little Tanya.
“One two three, three two one” replied her mother, enjoying the moment.
“One number two number three number” repeated Tanya. “Mummy, what’s your number?”
“Five sixty-three thousand, four hundred twenty-nine.” Of course, Tanya only knew that this was big.
“Mummy, you have a big favorite number.”
“Honey, that’s not my favorite number. My favorite number is ten, because it’s everywhere. We have ten fingers and ten toes.”
“But Mummy... you said...” the complaint remained unfinished. “What’s my number?” the four-year old asked, not to be distracted.
“I don’t know honey, what is your number?”
Tanya’s mouth seemed to move of its own accord. “Six hundred thirty-two thousand, five hundred thirty-one.” Tanya didn’t know how she knew that, and in fact, at age four, she couldn’t count to thirty.
“What does it mean?” said the confused toddler.
“I don’t know,” replied the mother, a bit dazed. “I guess it means you’ll be attending school in the fall.”
Tanya’s memory ended there.
Her brother rolled over. “What’s your number, little bro?” she whispered, knowing that it was futile to ask at so early an age, nearly three years before anyone had ever responded.
“What’s your number, little bro, my little Leo? What’s your number?” she repeated.
Her brother’s eyes snapped open. They were a deep dark blue that gave them a look of wisdom.
His mouth didn’t move, but Tanya heard it too clearly to be mistaken.
I have no number, said a mature voice. I am the first numberless.
