$16.42

[ndrosen]

I get apples, some other fruits and vegetables, and cider from a certain vendor at the farmers’ market, paying with a credit card (after some cash was stolen, their boss announced a policy of preferring payment by credit card). They tell me how much the charge is, and I sometimes comment on the number, if it’s interesting mathematically, or the date of some historical event, or my father’s year of birth plus four hundred, or whatever. Sunday morning, my purchases came to $16.42, and I told the seventeen year old girl who took my card that 1642 was the year that the English Civil War began.

Another person working there asked if that involved King Charles the somethingith and Parliament. I said yes, Charles the First and Parliament went to war against each other, beginning the Civil War, also known as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, because England, Scotland, and Ireland all participated. The English Parliament made alliance with the Covenanting Scottish Presbyterians, Oliver Cromwell came to power in England, and invaded Ireland, acting with great brutality, and so forth.

So I contributed to a young lady’s education, as well as getting some Goldrush apples, and a bunch of basil, together with cucumbers and garlic.