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He thanked her.
“You’re welcome,” said Jennifer. “You know what I like about you, Marvin?” she asked. “You’re polite. No one else has said thank you to me all day.”
“What happens when they call your number?” he asked her.
“You just go back for a blood test. To find out your blood type. The King and Queen have blood type O negative. So that means Prince Robert has to have blood type O negative too. It’s pretty rare. Most people are type A or B. And almost everyone is positive, not negative.”
“So then what happens?” asked Marvin.
“Well, if you’re A or B, you’re sent home. If you’re O negative, you do a second blood test. It’s called an HLA test. It’s a lot more complicated. But it will tell for certain if you’re Prince Robert.”
“So they haven’t found Prince Robert yet?” asked Marvin.
“No.” She shrugged. “Otherwise we wouldn’t be here. I don’t think they’ll ever find him. The odds are one in a million.”
Marvin found it all a little confusing.
“Just hope your blood type is O negative,” said Jennifer. “That’s the first step.”
9
Blood Test
Marvin waited with all the other red-haired boys. He thought about what Linzy had said. “They’re all exactly like you, Marvin!”
He knew that wasn’t true. He was different. Special. He was the one and only Prince Robert.
He looked at his slip of paper.
812
He noticed one of the other boys had a yellow number. Everyone else’s was black, like his.
“Eight eleven,” called the man in the white coat.
Marvin watched the nasty woman drag Arnold through the door.
“I don’t want to get a shot!” Arnold screamed.
A short while later the man returned. “Eight twelve.”
Marvin stood up. Jennifer smiled and waved to him.
He walked through the door.
Marvin watched the man unwrap a new needle. Then he looked away.
If he didn’t watch, it didn’t hurt.
The man stuck the needle into Marvin’s arm.
Once it was in, it was okay to look. Marvin watched his blood flow out of his arm and slowly fill the tube. It felt weird watching his own blood.
“Thank you,” Marvin said when the man was through.
“What?” asked the man. “Oh. You’re welcome.”
Marvin took his tube of blood through another door to the lab. He saw his number, 812, typed on the outside of the tube.
