room and stomped down the hall. âI can ride allama as well as anyone.â She glanced over at Corey Brandt. âMaybe better, actually.â
Oliver noticed that she had changed clothes and that her hair was different.
âYou didnât come here just to harass my children about llamas,â Dr. Navel interrupted.
âWell, I was talking to my old friend Barbara Deaver,â said Sir Edmund, âwho happens to be a middle school principal. Naturally, I asked after the well-being of my favorite Navels and was saddened to learn they had been suspended from the sixth grade so early.â He shook his head. âI fear that too much television has turned them into antisocial deviants. All hope is not lost, however. I can whip them into shape for you, Navel. A few more weeks traveling with me, and theyâll be as good as â¦â He twirled his mustache and smiled as he drew out the last word: âGold.â
âThe terms of the wager are that they belong to you when they are on
vacation
,â Dr. Navel responded. âSuspension is not a vacation.â
âYes it is,â Sir Edmund said.
âNo itâs not,â Dr. Navel answered.
âIt is,â said Sir Edmund.
âIt is not,â said Dr. Navel.
Oliver, Celia, Corey Brandt, and the professor snapped their heads back and forth between the two men like they were watching a tennis match. Although, given the height difference between Dr. Navel and Sir Edmund, it was more like a tennis match on a steep hill.
âIt is.â
âItâs not.â
âIt is.â
âItâs not.â
âEnough!â Sir Edmund finally shouted. âI will not stand here and argue with an explorer who cannot even find his own wife.â He turned to the professor. âI am amazed you allow him to remain the Explorer-in-Residence. Perhaps the standards of the Explorers Club are slipping. Perhaps I should consider reducing the amount of my next donation â¦â
âThere is no need to do that,â Professor Rasmali-Greenberg sputtered. âI am sure we can come to an agreement here.â
âI thought we might,â Sir Edmund said. âVery good then. We shall all travel together to the Amazon.â
âNo we will not!â Dr. Navel shouted.
âYes we will,â said Sir Edmund.
âWe will not!â said Dr. Navel.
âWe will indeed!â
âWe will absolutely not!â
âWe most certainly will!â
âDude!â Corey Brandt interrupted. âI canât take any more of these bad vibes. Whatever. Weâll all go.â He turned to Sir Edmund. âJust try to stay off camera, okay?â
âExcellent,â said Sir Edmund. âIt will be delightful to see television magic in the making. Will your entourage be joining us?â
âIâll be on my own,â said Corey Brandt.
âNo legal guardians? Assistants? Publicists? Hairstylists? Stuntmen?â
Corey Brandt clenched his jaw and glared at Sir Edmund. âMy parents donât travel, my assistant is on vacation, my publicist doesnât
do
nature, this is just how my hair looks, and Iââhe coughed into his handââI do all my own stunts.â
âReally?â Oliver gasped. âSo when Agent Zero escaped from the Assassinsâ Guild in the desert of Kazakhstan, you did that? And jumping out of the sky castle of Mumbai? And waterskiing through the fires of Cleveland? You did all that?â
âYeah,â said Corey Brandt.
âCool!â said Oliver.
Dr. Navel wondered why Oliver thought it was cool when Corey Brandt did exciting and dangerous things, but awful and dull when Dr. Navel had his children do them.
âI took you to Cleveland once,â he muttered to himself.
âI assume we shall start our expedition with Benjamin Constant. I shall make the arrangements,â said Sir Edmund. He didnât wait for an
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