held a slip of paper a school visitor pass Is that a weasel I asked The man stroked the creature Certainly not Meet Marco Polo my mongoose He's showing you that we're official visitors at your school Your principal was certain you'd be out here The mongoose turned scurried up the man's arm and sat on his right shoulder Its dot eyes never left me Who are you What do you want I asked fearing that the man was another school counselor eager to know why I never spoke in class why I never joined in playground games or why I spent so much time alone at the classroom computer Except that this man didn't look like a school district employee The visitor snapped his fingers The mongoose sprang off his shoulder and dove into the cape pocket then reappeared with a business card in its mouth The card showed a logo of a wooden sailing ship with the letters MVP printed across it and some words
MVP NY PRINCE OLIOLI OH XL PRODUCER MAGELLAN VOYAGE PROJECT The look on my face betrayed my doubt Yes Adam Story the man said As certain as homework I'm a real prince Why does it say you're XL extra large I'm Prince Oh the fortieth I come from a long line of royalty an ancient dynasty that ruled over the kingdom of Babababad Babababad There no such place I said's convinced from my web surfing that I knew all one hundred ninety six countries and kingdoms in the world To be certain my domain no longer exists the prince said Many centuries ago a cruel conqueror Gunter the Hunter captured Babababad and made it part of his empire Two centuries later a European power invaded the empire and turned Babababad into a
Three centuries after that an evil dictator took over the colony and a century hence civil wars split it into twenty small republics Throughout the twentieth century Babababad continued to shrink from takeovers and land deals until one day a crew simply paved it over for a parking lot Indeed Adam Story although my kingdom cannot be found on certain maps you can be certain that my royal title has been passed down to me through forty generations I reread the business card In October my fifth grade class had learned about Ferdinand Magellan the explorer who led the first fleet of ships that circled the world But what did Ferdinand have to do with a prince showing up at my school What’s the Magellan Voyage Project I asked The man folded his hands on the tabletop He wore three silver rings bearing gems as big as the one on his turban For the past year I've traveled the world on behalf of a certain organization called LORD the League of Royalty without Domains he began Tve searched the earth for a certain twelve year old boy or girl to join my project the MVP I've investigated thousands of youths on every continent The ideal candidate is someone who has excellent knowledge of the world someone who is brave but not foolhardy cunning but not cruel and cuts a unique path without wandering too far Most
Adam Story I’ve searched for a twelve year old who can stand being alone without being lonely I'm certain that I've finally found a youth who fits that description You Adam Story You are the certain twelve year old I screwed up my face again Certain about what I asked How do you know anything about me Prince Oh turned his head He appeared to share a knowing nod with the mongoose on his shoulder For many months MVP has monitored your computer activity Adam Story he said We know about the geography and travel web sites you visited We accessed your library use and know that every book you checked out was an adventure story We viewed the list of DVDs you rented and magazines you bought From the school computer we learned that your mother is employed as a cook in the middle school cafeteria That s why you can attend schools in this upper class suburb even though you live in another town one where the schools aren't so good We also know that your grades at this school are outstanding but you've had a tough time making friends What of it I said You have no right to hack into my life Marco Polo left the prince's shoulder scurried around his turban and perched on the other side I'm here to offer you a challenge Adam Story an MVP birthday challenge if you will Prince Oh said his black eyes sparkling We know you long for travel and
