Kidnapped at Birth, Page 3

  O negative

  Then he suddenly remembered something. The King of Shampoon spoke with a weird accent! Marvin didn’t talk like that. So that meant he couldn’t be Prince Robert!

  “Marvin, you’re back!” said Jennifer. “So are you O negative?” she asked eagerly.

  “Uh—” said Marvin. He stuffed the slip of paper into his pocket. “No,” he said. “I just wanted to say good-bye.”

  Jennifer smiled at him. “I’m glad you stopped by,” she said. She held her hand out across the desk. “Well, good-bye Marvin. I mean—I was delighted to make your acquaintance … Prince Charming.”

  Marvin blushed as he shook her hand.

  His mother returned with Linzy and Jacob.

  “Hi, Mom,” he greeted her.

  “Mom?” she asked. “Does this mean—?”

  “Yes,” said Marvin. “Marvin Redpost isn’t dead.”

  “I’m sorry,” said his mother.

  “Yay!” shouted Linzy.

  He went out to dinner with his family.

  A week later the King of Shampoon left Washington, D.C., still looking for his lost son.

  Marvin felt sorry for him.

  He thought about all the red-haired boys in the hotel room.

  But he was different. Special. He was the one and only Marvin Redpost.

  Besides, he probably wasn’t Prince Robert anyway. The odds were one in a million.

  About the Author

  Louis Sachar does not have red hair or royal blood. However, he is known for his incredibly funny books, including There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom. When asked if he remembers being in third grade, Louis admits that it’s “kind of a haze.” But he adds, “When I start writing, it all comes back to me.”

  Louis (pronounced Lewis) Sachar (rhymes with cracker) lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife, Carla, and their daughter, Sherre.