Eighteen
A Thaddeus Barcelona Story: Segment 2
Previous segment: “The Life Equation”
Eighteen was a number currently of interest to Thaddeus. His basement apartment on Grove Avenue was an eighteen-minute walk from his office in the back of Greenhouse Number 9 at the North River Botanical Gardens. Since he started seeing Melonie several months ago, he learned her third-floor condo was also an eighteen-minute walk from his office but in the opposite direction from his abode. He used the term ‘office’ loosely to refer to a large desk his upstairs neighbors recently disposed of, which now occupied a small glass-walled room in the back of the greenhouse. He found it a quiet and peaceful place to work, surrounded by all manner of plants in various stages of growth.
The more Thaddeus contemplated the number eighteen; the more intrigued he became. The fact it was a multiple of nine added a certain spice to his mental deliberations — nine being such an auspicious number itself. People who like reading the Bible and counting are fond of pointing out that Jesus expired in the ninth hour of his ordeal, and he appeared nine times to his disciples after the resurrection. Abram was ninety-nine when he established his covenant with God and changed his name to Abraham.
