Kidnapped at Birth? by Louis Sachar Page A

sister, Linzy, who was four.
    Jacob met him at the front door. “Watch out, Mar,” he said. “Mom’s mad.”
    “I’m not mad!” said their mother, coming up behind him.
    She sounded mad.
    “Go clean your room,” she told Jacob.
    “I already cleaned my room,” said Jacob.
    “Clean it again,” she said. “Then help Linzy with hers.”
    Jacob was right. She was mad.
    “And where have you been?” she asked Marvin.
    “At Stuart’s,” he said.
    “Grandma and Grandpa are coming over.”
    “I forgot.”
    “You should have called,” said his mother. “You didn’t tell me you were going to Stuart’s house. I had no idea where you were!”
    “I always go to Stuart’s. Or Nick’s,” said Marvin.
    “You are supposed to call,” said his mother. “You could have been kidnapped, for all I knew!”
    “Okay, okay. I’m sorry,” said Marvin.
    He went upstairs to his room. “I
was
kidnapped, for all you know,” he muttered to himself.
    He wondered if his mother would say that if she was really a kidnapper.
    Probably not.
    “I want you to do your homework!” his mother yelled up to him. “Before Grandma and Grandpa get here!”
    “Okay, okay,” Marvin muttered.
    Marvin had a pet lizard named General Jackson. General Jackson lived in a glass cage next to Marvin’s desk.
    “She probably has no idea I’m Prince Robert,” Marvin told the General. “If she did, she wouldn’t yell at me. She’d serve me breakfast in bed every morning.”
    General Jackson stuck out his tongue.
    For homework, Marvin had to practice his handwriting. He wrote as fast as he could.
    “If I was a prince,” he said, “I wouldn’t have to do homework. A servant would do it for me.”
    He finished his homework, then walked downstairs. His grandparents still had not arrived.
    His father was watching television in the den.
    “Dad,” said Marvin. “Was I adopted?”
    “What? No, of course not.”
    “Would you tell me if I was?”
    “Yes, but you weren’t.”
    Marvin rubbed his chin. His father
seemed
to be telling the truth.
    “What happened when I was born?” he asked.
    “What?”
    “Did anything unusual happen?”
    His father looked away from the television. “Um, it seems there was something,” he said. “I forget what it was. But it was a false alarm. You were fine.” He turned back to the television.
    “Did they take me away?” asked Marvin. “Or was I with Mom every single second?”
    His father sighed. “No, you weren’t with Mom every single second. Can we please talk about this later? I’m trying to watch the news.”
    “Well, when I came back,” said Marvin, “did I look different?”
    “What?”
    “Okay,” said Marvin. “Like three days after I was born. Did I look exactly the same as the day I was born?”
    “I don’t remember. Probably not. Babies change quickly.”
    “What did I look like when I was born?”
    “You looked like a baby. All babies look pretty much the same. Now, please, Marvin. I want to watch this.”
    The doorbell rang.
    Marvin heard his grandparents enter.
    His father got up. “C’mon, Mar,” he said.
    But now Marvin was watching TV.
    The King of Shampoon was on the news. The King had wavy red hair underneath his gold crown.
    “I don’t know if my son is alive or dead,” said the King.
    Except he spoke with a strange accent. So it sounded like “I don’t know
eef
my son
ees
alive or dead.”
    The King’s face filled the TV screen. He spoke. “Robert, if you’re listening out there, please call me. Return to your rightful place on the throne. We need you. Your kingdom awaits you.”

    Except it sounded like
“Vee
need you. Your kingdom
avaits
you.”
    The newsman came on. “If you think you may know someone who is Prince Robert, you should—”
    The television shut off.
    Mr. Redpost put down the remote-control switch. “Let’s not keep Grandma and Grandpa waiting,” he said.
    Marvin’s grandparents were making a big fuss over Linzy.
    “You’re so