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.
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.
He gave the tube to a woman with glasses, then waited while she examined his blood.
She returned a short time later and handed him a new slip of paper. On it was written:
812 O negative
Royal blood!