I have a number in my head, though I don't know why it's there

I was in my Intro to Mass Comm class the other day listening to the professor speak about the relationship between the population and the number of daily newspapers. I couldn't quite focus, though, because he was wearing a tight, striped button-up shirt. The first four buttons were left open leaving a pouf of white chest hair bursting out from underneath. He was also sporting a thick gold chain around his neck. Like a modern-day, souped up version of Gaston. Boots and all.

That's not the point.

Back to the relationship between the population and the number of daily newspapers.

He drew a chart on the board and labeled the columns "Population," "Year," and "Newspapers." He filled out the last two columns with numbers from the book while we dutifully wrote in our notebooks.

"Can anyone tell me the population of the United States during 1988" he asked.

A hand flew up in the air.

Flew.

I mean, the girl was practically falling out of her chair with excitement because she ACTUALLY KNEW the population of the ENTIRE United States during 1988. She even made those whimpering noises. And really, I'm not making this up for the sake of trying to write a funny story...she squealed. This girl was hell-bent on sharing with the class that she knew the exact answer to this exact question. Almost as if her entire life had been one giant lead-up to this moment.

"Yes? You in the back? Do you know the answer?"

"I do." A supernatural glow was eminating from her general direction. I imagine her cheeks must have hurt from smiling so widely.

"Two million."