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One other thing also comes to mind again. After the scene that took place at Father Dissard’s house, I went to sleep every evening counting up to nine a certain number of times. This is a number that has frequently come up in my life, like a code that has been assigned to me. I have never been able to explain this sudden habit, which began several years after I had learned to count much higher than nine, and therefore could not have been the result of learning by rote. I was seven years old when this incident took 1 place. Poetry At that time what mattered most to me were animals, which I loved to draw all day long, when I was not organizing snail races. I was fascinated by animal life, and I dreamt then only of becoming an explorer, so as to be able to get near the mysterious fauna of the virgin forests. But at nine years of age - the number nine again - everything was to change. First of all, I was discovering what was to become a true passion for me - speed. Speed that is, on everything with wheels, with or without an engine. Speed and especially balance, the sense of trajectory and the struggle against oneself, against one’s own reflexes - in fact, the ultimate mastery of mind over body. It started with wild downhill runs on a little bicycle with almost no brakes, and I wonder how it was that I did not fall a single time. To liven things up, I would position myself at the top of a hill and wait for a fast car to pass by. Then I would launch into dizzying pursuit, catch up with the car and pass it - to the driver’s great surprise - and, once at the bottom of the hill, I would turn and go back to wait at the top for another car. A few months later, I found myself by chance attending the Tour de France motor race, and it was love at first sight. It was possible, I 126 INTELLIGENT DESIGN: MESSAGE FROM THE DESIGNERS