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The tide recedes as I sit in the fenced garden on my roof. A jagged rock lies ready to wreck the mariner who errs. A seabird screeches somewhere to my rear. Longing, I look at the world beyond the rail. The earth is green. It is the middle of the day and I am listening to Abba. A beat of wings and the bird comes in sight - nature and I are in sync. He who renounces nature, wherever he may roam, goes nowhere.

What is my number?

Hint 1

Throw up your hands in surrender: this is one of the harder ones.

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  • 2
    $\begingroup$ I don't know your number, but I am super relaxed now. $\endgroup$
    – Forklift
    Commented Jun 16, 2017 at 14:39
  • $\begingroup$ Who are you? If you are another Seabird, you are number 2 :p $\endgroup$
    – CR241
    Commented Jun 16, 2017 at 15:28

1 Answer 1

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11
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Your number is:

Thirteen.

Why?

The last word in each sentence can be transformed with Rot13 to give another English word. That word is described at the beginning of the sentence:

The tide recedes as I sit in the fenced garden on my roof — ebbs.
A jagged rock lies ready to wreck the mariner who errs — reef.
A seabird screeches somewhere to my rear — erne.
Longing, I look at the world beyond the rail — envy.
The earth is green — terra.
It is the middle of the day and I am listening to Abba — Noon.
A beat of wings and the bird comes in sight - nature and I are in sync — flap.
He who renounces nature, wherever he may roam, goes nowhere — abjurer.

Throw up your hands in surrender: this is one of the harder ones — barf.

Unfortunalely, I haven't got any good explanation for the title.

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  • $\begingroup$ There is a superstition regarding the number you discovered. The title also hints at the important parts of each sentence are those furthest from the middle. :-) $\endgroup$
    – Hugh Meyers
    Commented Jun 17, 2017 at 19:52
  • $\begingroup$ Not my best title, I admit. I also failed to find a way to work in clerk/Pyrex, onyx/balk and fur/she. Congratulations on finding the solution! $\endgroup$
    – Hugh Meyers
    Commented Jun 17, 2017 at 19:58
  • $\begingroup$ Ah, I see! There's also vex/irk. Green and sync reminded me faintly of this puzzle. So in my case, 13 seems to have brought me luck. $\endgroup$
    – M Oehm
    Commented Jun 17, 2017 at 20:18

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