No.113

    Last week Number 113 was an old woman in a wheelchair, she died a month ago. That was according to Number 2 in ‘Hammer Into Anvil,’ who looked Number 113 up in a black file. So what happened to Number 113 who used to contribute to The Tally Ho in ‘Free For All,’ had he shared the same fate? After all there can never be two people in The Village who have the same number. Well obviously there can, but the situation between Number 6 and Curtis was a special case. Ordinarily there would be only one person with one particular Number. If there is, that number is subdivided as with 113b and 113c.
   So if Number 113, the contributor to The Tally Ho died suddenly, and was buried in the graveyard, and later Number 113, the old lady in a wheelchair had died and was buried in the graveyard, that makes two 113’s dead in the graveyard! My question is, if the only inscription on the headstones is the deceased’s number, how does anyone paying their respects know which headstone is which? Unless of course it’s the case that men are buried down on the beach as seen in ‘Arrival,’ and women are buried in the memorial cemetery as in ‘Hammer Into Anvil.’
    Of course with Number 113 possibly having died, the number was then reissued. What to an old woman? Why should an old woman in a wheelchair be brought to The Village? She must have been, because there wasn’t enough time for her to have grown old in The Village! People living in The Village do, on occasion, have their numbers changed for whatever reason. But what possible reason could there have been for Number 113 to have his number taken away, and have it given to an old woman?
   There was the case of another old lady in a wheelchair, Number 14, I expect she died, because the next Number 14 is a young woman, a doctor in ‘A B and C.’ She seemed pleased that Number 6 succeeded against Number 2, perhaps there would have been a new Number 14 along soon, in between her and the chess champion of ‘Checkmate.’

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